Who Are You?
by KrisCheshee
Summary: "Now, where am I? Who are you?" "Karissa." "I'm in Karissa?" "No! That's my name." "Oh, now that sounds perverted." - "You're coming to apologize?" "Why are you so shocked about that?" "You're self-centered and arrogant. Everyone would be shocked." Sirius/OC, Marauder Era - I don't own Harry Potter, but I own my plot and OC!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: OH MAH GOD. Guess what? I'm back. :D THAT'S RIIGHHTT! Anywaaays, hello everybody. Another Sirius/OC for you people to feast upon.**

**That sounded weird. I don't think you feast upon fanfics.**

**Oh, who cares. **

**Chapter One:**

Once upon a time, in the middle of August, a sixteen year old wizard happened to stumble upon a young, beautiful girl.

In her room.

At midnight.

Alone.

And with no idea where the bloody hell he was.

With a loud, screeching brake, Sirius stopped his motorcycle. Parking at the side of some unknown house, he leapt up and grabbed onto the wooden pillar. Then he climbed into the open window.

Pale violet wallpaper surrounded him, along with posters of animals in cute-looking poses with those self-encouraging quotes written in swirly letters. A puppy with many wrinkles surrounding his face had one paw on top of a cardboard sign that said, "No matter what anyone says, you're beautiful".

Along with those posters were gorgeous drawings. Sketches made with pencil, some with a quill and ink, a few actually coloured in. Pictures of people, animals, autumn leaves. Beautifully hand-drawn with precision and elegance.

The only light in the room was from a lamp on the bedside table, illuminating the small room with pale white light.

It was then, after he had a good look around the room, did he notice a girl staring wide-eyed at him.

Her hand was pressed up against her mouth, as if she was trying her best not to scream. The other was on her doorknob, ready to open the door and burst out of the room in a second.

Dark, chestnut coloured hair was tied up in a messy bun at the top of her head and her startling, bright blue eyes stared at him with an expression of confusion and fear.

Sirius' mouth popped open.

"Where the hell am I?" he asked, his voice a raised whisper.

She let the hand fall from her mouth. Sirius thought he saw a look of realization flash across her eyes, but then it vanished in a second. Did he imagine that?

"What kind of question is that?" she snapped back. She was unexpectedly cool about this whole situation. Sirius expected her to throw something at him, run away, or at least scream. "What the bloody hell are you doing in my room? And at midnight!"

Sirius turned around in a full circle, looking at everything around him. Then his eyes locked with the girl's again. "Who are you?"

The girl crossed her arms and a long strand of her hair flopped down from her bun and landed behind her shoulder. "You're asking _me_ that? Who the hell are _you_?"

"Sirius!"

"And how did you get in here?" she demanded.

"I just flew-"

"You did _what_?"

Sirius paused and stared at her blankly. A girl—around his age, it seemed—looked at little too surprised about the fact that he had flown there. Sure, it's not every day that you see a flying motorcycle, but it's not that weird. And, more importantly…A girl, around his age, didn't know who _he_ was? The legendary play-boy, the handsome teen from Hogwarts, the conqueror of all women…

She didn't know who Sirius Black was?

"Are you a muggle?" he whispered, his eyes wide. If she was a muggle, then he was in a muggle's room. And there's no doubt she had seen him. The first time he saw her, she looked pretty terrified. She probably saw the flying bike. That's right…he had just flown a magic, flying motorcycle into her backyard. In front of a muggle. Magic. IN FRONT OF A MUGGLE.

"What did you just call me?"

"Oh fu-" He stopped himself and started stomping in circles around the room with rage. "Stupid! I'm so stupid! Oh Merlin, where in the freakin' hell am I? I'm with a muggle! A bloody muggle!"

"Hey!" the girl hissed. "Do you mind…Oh, I don't know, _leaving_?"

But something wasn't right. Shouldn't he get some note from the ministry? Wouldn't the note come to him right away? Or maybe it was headed to his parents. Oh Merlin, not his parents.

He needed to hide before his parents got to him. But where? The Potter's?

Oh, of course not. Sirius had been living with the Potter's the moment he ran away from home. His parents would surely check there first.

But maybe, just maybe, his parents didn't get a letter about him illegally using magic in front of a muggle, even though he was aware of the consequences. So did the Potter's get it?

He could imagine the horrifying, hour-long lecture from Mrs. Potter already. Sure, of course, Mrs. Potter was a brilliant woman. Very kind, very warm, very loving. But this was him using magic in front of a bleeding muggle!

The lecture was coming no matter what now, he thought. But it was past midnight, he had no idea where the hell he was and he surely wasn't in the mood to get yelled at.

"Can I stay here for the night?"

The girl's mouth popped open. "You're not serious."

"Hahah, well the funny thing is, I am." He smiled. It was a little action that could send girls to Madam Pomfrey with their legs turned to jelly. "I'm Sirius. As in, the name. Not serious. _Sirius_."

"You've told me."

"Have I?"

"Just get out!" she demanded. "My parents are asleep downstairs. If they hear you, I'll probably be slaughtered!"

He gave her a look of confusion. "Why would they do that? _I'm_ the random man standing in the middle of your room at midnight."

"Well, in case you haven't noticed," a fiery blush splashed across her cheeks, "I'm standing in front of you in my knickers. My parents would probably assume the worst case scenario."

Sirius looked at her from head to toe. Then he smirked. "Actually, I did notice that the first time I looked at you. Just figured that if I pointed it out, you'd put on some pants. Hate to see those gorgeous legs be covered up."

"You're a _pervert_!" she shrieked, as she ruffled through her white drawers for some pants. She settled for some grey, cotton shorts.

As she pulled them on, Sirius responded with, "Yeah, I've been told."

"How many times have you magically appeared in some poor girls' room while she was in her knickers?" she snapped, tying the string at the front of her shorts. Getting annoyed at her slowly diminishing bun, she yanked the pony tail out of her hair and her chestnut waves flew down to the middle of her back.

"This is a first, actually," Sirius admitted. "Now, where am I? Who are you?"

She gave him a nasty look, and then said, "Karissa."

"I'm in Karissa?"

"No! That's my name."

"Oh, now that sounds perverted."

"Just shut up!"

"Karissa, huh?" Sirius looked amused. "Like that Quidditch player in Holyhead Harpies…"

"What was that?" Karissa asked.

"Nothing."

Karissa was getting annoyed. Who was he to turn up in her room and then shamelessly ask if he could stay the night? He was her exact definition of a perverted idiot. As if she would _ever_ let him sleep over! She didn't even know him!

"Can't you just…," she gestured at him with a waving arm, "vanish? Climb out of my window and never come back?"

"Well, you see…" Sirius gave an explanation on how these "people" (he didn't want to say wizards, because he was afraid to scare her off) were supposed to take him away for being there. His parents (or the Potter's) probably knew what was going on because the "people" just know every bloody thing about teenagers under seventeen. So he could both stay the night and delay the insane screaming of Mrs. Potter for a few hours, or go back now.

"Go back now," Karissa responded, without hesitation.

Sirius gave her his best puppy-dog face. "But—but…That's cruel, Karissa! Do you really want someone who is as attractive as me get yelled at for five hours?"

Egotistical was another character trait of Sirius Black that Karissa added to her list. Perverted, idiotic, weird and egotistical.

"Yes." It was another immediate response. "I don't even know you."

"Yes you do. I told you my name," he said defensively.

She rolled her eyes and scowled. "So what? Just leave! Just jump out the window if you have to!"

"I could cripple myself! Are you insane?" Sirius told her.

"I'm insane? You're the one who showed up in my room in the middle of the night with no decent explanation!" she snapped back.

"Well-" Sirius was about to make a snappy retort when Karissa said, "Shh!" and reached forward, clamping her hand over her mouth.

They both listened. Over the sound of their breath, they could hear creaking of floorboards. Then the soft thud of feet.

"Get in my bed," Karissa hissed, her voice low.

"I'm flattered by your invitation, but, like you said, you don't even know me."

"Just get in!" she snapped.

Sirius obeyed and got under the white covers. He didn't say a word as she snuggled up beside him and then turned off the lamplight. Then there was darkness.

Under normal circumstances, Sirius would be ecstatic. Under the covers with some attractive girl in the middle of the night? Talk about dreams coming true. But this girl just had to be a bloody freakin' _muggle_. How could he even snog her? She could find out about him and call the muggle authorities or something. He might go to Azkaban for showing magic to a non-magic person.

And no, not _that_ kind of magic. You pervert.

So anyway, here he was. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the dimness of the room and he was completely aware of Karissa glaring at him. He saw her mouth the words, "touch me and you're dead" and nodded silently.

There was a knock. Karissa held her breath as one of her parents opened her bedroom door with a soft squeak.

"Karissa?" It was her mother, her voice was quiet and sweet. "Is everything alright? I heard something."

Karissa stretched, shoving her arms out from under the covers. She mumbled something incoherent and wiggled around a bit. Acting as if she was half-asleep.

"Oh," her mother whispered. She closed the door again, with a whisper of, "Good night".

After hearing her mum walk down the stairs, they waited a bit longer to make sure she was completely gone. The seconds felt like minutes. The minutes felt like hours.

It was around ten minutes after her mum left that Karissa was finally convinced that it was safe to come out. Turning on the lamp and climbing out of bed, she looked down at Sirius.

He had fallen asleep.

For a moment, Karissa actually allowed herself to smile. Of course, she would never in her life admit it to him, but _damn_ was he ever handsome. His hair was dark and messy in a mix of dark, chocolate brown and black. His face was clear and clean-shaven, not a trace of facial hair or acne in sight. He had high-cheek bones, a strong jaw line, gorgeous grey eyes that…

Wait a second.

His eyes were open.

His _eyes_ were _open_.

He was _awake_.

"I caught you," he whispered, a teasing grin on his face. He sat up and his grin grew wider. "You were staring."

"I was not!" Karissa snapped back defensively. Her face felt like it was on fire, burning pink with a blush. She crossed her arms. "Were you really asleep?"

"No, I was just waiting for you to realize how bloody attractive I am," he told her.

"I don't think you're attractive." She avoided eye contact.

"You're lying." He got up off the bed and stood in front of her. He was easily about five inches taller than she was, maybe more.

"I am not," she protested, feeling him uncomfortably close. She took a step back.

He took a step forward. "You're unexpectedly adorable."

"I'm really not," she responded, taking another step back.

Sirius took another look around her room. At the cute animal posters with encouraging quotes. "Believe in yourself." "Keep trying." "Always smile."

She had a low self-esteem.

Ehh, probably not. Sirius couldn't believe that. This girl was completely and utterly attractive, why would she have a low self-esteem? And her personality wasn't that bad, either.

"You really are," he said. Another step forward.

"How many girls have you said that to?" Karissa asked, crossing her arms and still looking over to her left, avoiding eye-contact.

Sirius opened his mouth, and then closed it.

"A lot?" she went on. This time, she looked at him with raised eyebrows.

He just gave her a cute little sheepish grin and shrugged.

She exhaled slowly and crossed her arms. "As I was saying before, you should probably leave."

"As I was saying before, you're unexpectedly adorable."

Karissa actually let out a laugh. "Stop trying to pick me up. No playboy lines of yours are going to work on me." She walked over to her window, opened it, and then gestured outside. "Now please proceed in leaping out of my window and disappar-" She stopped herself and then cleared her throat. "Disappearing."

Sirius gave her a grin. "For a second, I thought you were going to say disapparate. You see, that's this thing that people like me-"

"Window. Jump. Now." Karissa walked over to him and started pushing him towards the open window.

"Merlin, alright, I'm going," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. He looked out of the window and at the drop below. He stared at an expectant Karissa. "Or maybe I can just take the door-"

"And risk my parents seeing you? Climb out the window before I push you out of it," Karissa stated bluntly.

Sirius took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Climbing up seemed a lot less scary than climbing back down. Then he made his way out the window and grabbed onto the wooden pillar that was attached to the bricks. He shimmied the rest of his way down and headed for the trees that lead into a thick forest behind Karissa's house.

He looked back up at the house, at Karissa who was watching him from her window. Waving, he said, "Bye, Karissa!"

He ran to the side, further into her backyard. Then her eyes widened, still not used to the giant flying motorcycle that flew into the air.

Karissa smiled. "See you around, Sirius Black."

* * *

**A/N: And that is the end of Chapter One! Please review, favourite, add to your alert-list thingy, all that good stuff! Pretty please with a cherry on top! Unless you're allergic to cherries. In that case, don't. You might have an allergic reaction and collapse.**

**I'll probably update once a week, probably on Saturday's. But not this Saturday...next Saturday. That's the 11th of May, I think.**

**-kris**

**Preview for Chapter Two:**

"_You should probably be a little more subtle in asking someone to undress."_

_Ten minutes later, Sirius was outside of her house with a few bruises on his shins and pain throbbing in his stomach and back._

_The next thing Karissa knew, Sirius was taking a shower at her house while her mother was going on and on about how handsome he was._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Right, so I know that I said that I was going to update this story on Saturday (tomorrow) but here I am posting it a day earlier. :D I'm going to update every Friday, so...yeah!**

**A giant thank you to everyone who read the previous chapter! Thank you so much! Here's a special thanks to my reviewers, because reading what you wrote about this story just makes me super happy. :D So thanks especially to: **warewolf-princess558750** (who, by the way, was my first reviewer****)****, **I'm a Witch So Deal With It, halopez18, Ali, Lily, Lyssa, Mare, **and **Sunny!

**Chapter Two:**

Once upon a time, a wizard named Sirius came back to the Potter Mansion at around two in the morning. James was waiting for him by the fireplace. He had fallen asleep, his round glasses askew. A choked snore came from his mouth and nose, and the smallest drop of drool dribbled down his cheek.

Sirius saw him laying there on the couch and did the one thing a best friend would always do.

He grabbed a pillow from the other couch and whipped it into James' face. It collided successfully with a loud thump and James merely grumbled in annoyance, not even jumping up in surprise.

"Ooh, errackk," mumbled James, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He noticed the saliva on his cheek and wiped it with the back of his hand. He cleared his throat. "You're back," he corrected himself. "So who was your surprise woman tonight?"

It was a game that Sirius and James had been doing lately. James would give some random directions to Sirius, and then he'd take his motorcycle and fly there to see if he could get a good snog out of any attractive-looking woman that he happened to meet. It was a new challenge for Sirius—girls were so bloody easy these days, after all.

"You picked a town with only wizards and witches, right?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah?"

Sirius threw another pillow in his face. "Then you have to give better directions. I ended up in some muggle chick's room."

James' mouth popped open. "_What_? So she saw you, right? You were flying a motorcycle! Oh my Merlin, did the ministry contact you? Holy Godric. We're completely screwed." James looked at his best friend with wild eyes and even more wild hair flopped down into his face. "No wait. _You're_ screwed. Oh Godric you need to go on the run now. You need to-"

Sirius grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Calm yourself, Prongs! I didn't get contacted and neither did you or your parents, apparently. And if _my_ parents were contacted, then I have no doubt in my mind I would probably be locked up in a dungeon by now. Yes, they severed all ties with me, but I bet they'd be so disgraced by the fact that a Black such as myself showed magic to a muggle, they would kill me. But here I am!" He offered a grin.

"So…she wasn't a muggle?" James asked.

"She _was_, though," Sirius responded, just as confused. "I guess something's wrong with the ministry or something."

"You're unbelievably lucky, though." James stretched and yawned. "So anyway…did you snog her?" It was a question James asked Sirius every single day.

"No." But that wasn't usually the answer.

"Oh. Was she _that_ ugly, then?" he asked. James took his glasses off of his face and cleaned them with his shirt.

Sirius scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding me? She was bloody gorgeous. Killer legs, completely adorable. We were too busy arguing to snog."

James laughed as he slipped his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. "Wow. She hates you already. You need to work on your charm."

"She doesn't hate me," Sirius protested, crossing his arms. "She's just hard to get."

"Oh really?" James asked with a smirk. "Then prove it."

Sirius stood up, ready to take up the challenge. "Oh, I will. I'll fly back over to her house tomorrow then. I'll bet you two galleons I can get her to willingly kiss me."

"I was just-" James began.

"Okay! Deal!" Sirius forcefully shook his mate's hand and then bounded up the stairs to his room.

James stared blankly. "I was just joking," he mumbled to himself.

* * *

Karissa Jenkin's went downstairs for breakfast. She let the smell of breakfast sausage and scrambled eggs fill her nose and her stomach grumbled.

"Morning," her mother said. She had light brown hair and a petite stature. She was sipping a mug of steaming coffee. "Sleep alright?"

_Not at all. Someone broke into my room in the middle of the night. Oh, and how did he get to our house? By a bloody flying motorcycle, of course!_ "I slept like an angel," Karissa lied, smiling. "Where's Dad?"

"Work," her mum answered simply. "You know how he is. Always wanting to do everything right."

Karissa smiled again and sat down at the wooden table. She shoveled some eggs onto her plate and took a few sausages.

Her mum looked over at her. "Are you alright?"

Karissa stared. "Of course. Why are you asking?"

"I mean, at school," her mum went on. "This is your last year; I want you to be happier. You know?"

"Mum, I _am_ happy," Karissa said.

"But you never-"

"Mum! It's fine." Karissa hated talking about school to her mum. Mostly because her parents had raised two outgoing, confident children. But Karissa had been unlucky. For some reason, she didn't have the social-skills that her siblings had. She didn't have the confidence. No one knew her at school. She didn't have that many friends. She was usually called, "weird" and "anti-social". An "ugly nerd", even.

Then Sirius came. He called her adorable. It wasn't every day Karissa heard that from someone who wasn't her parents.

But there he was. Flew out of the sky on a motorcycle like some kind of handsome, badass prince.

Wow. That was a horrible analogy. Karissa promised herself to never make that kind of comparison ever again in her life.

Then Sirius just had to open his mouth and act like a perverted playboy. It kind of shattered the entire "the only boy to call her adorable, badass prince" thing.

She seriously needed to stop saying badass prince. It sounded really messed up.

So you could only imagine her reaction when she saw him that day, the very day she was trying to forget about him completely.

He knocked on her door a total of seven times before she answered it.

"Hullo there," Sirius said with a smile.

Karissa looked behind her. Her mum was in the bathroom, taking a shower.

She looked him up and down. Jeans, a grey T-shirt, black shoes. It was boiling outside.

"Aren't you burning in those?" she asked, gesturing at his dark jeans.

"You should probably be a little more subtle in asking someone to undress."

"I'm not asking you to take off your clothes." Karissa rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I'm asking you if you're hot."

"Well I _am_ pretty attractive."

Karissa scowled. He was just _so_ impossible. "Why are you here?" she demanded.

"Why not?" he retorted. "Just be grateful that I didn't come through your window again."

"Just be grateful that you're not near a window that I can push you out of," Karissa told him, thanking her brain for her quick response. "And I'm busy, so you should leave."

"Busy with what?" he asked, curiously.

"Why do you need to know?" Karissa responded.

"I tend to be the type of person who likes to know everything about the girl he's interested in," he told her smoothly.

"And I'm the type of person who doesn't get convinces by smooth-talk and pick-up lines." With that, she closed the door.

But obviously, she didn't close it fast enough. Sirius was in her house in a matter of seconds. And in that one minute he was in her house, he already had a forkful of scrambled eggs in his mouth.

After he swallowed, he said, "These are cold."

"Probably because they were from my breakfast, which was about twenty minutes ago," Karissa informed him. "Now do you mind getting out before my mum sees you?"

"Why? You're not in your knickers this time."

"I'd really love it if you never brought that up ever again."

"Too late. I'm already imagining your gorgeous legs." He grinned at her, his grey eyes sparkling. Karissa saw him eyeing her legs and she felt awkward under his gaze. "But I don't really need to imagine them, when you're standing in front of me in some _very_ short shorts."

Karissa looked down at her outfit. White shorts (which, in her opinion, weren't that short. Sirius was probably just exaggerating) and a green, noodle strapped, tank top that flowed out a bit. And, unlike yesterday, she was wearing glasses. They were black and square with rounded edges. They were dark and thick on the top half, then the colour lightened up into a pale grey near the bottom.

"You weren't wearing glasses last night," Sirius mentioned, finally noticing them.

"It was the middle of the night," she responded. "And it'd be great if you'd leave. I'm busy, like I said."

"With what?"

She sighed. "Homework. And my school starts on September first, and I'm not done it all yet."

"Really?" Sirius asked, as he made himself at home. He walked into her living room and laid down while kicking off his shoes. "Same here. Let's do homework together then!" _Oh, but she's a muggle, right? _"Never mind. Actually, how about you show me around your neighbourhood?"

Karissa stared at him. "This is the second time you've been here and you still don't know where you are?"

"Not the slightest clue."

"You're an idiot."

"I've been told," Sirius responded coolly, not seeming at all affected by the insult. "Now, how's about that tour around town?"

Karissa took a pillow from another couch and threw it at his face. "Never."

She walked past him and up the stairs. When she saw him following she snapped, "Sirius. Honestly, you should leave."

He smirked at her. "Make me."

Ten minutes later, Sirius was outside of her house with a few bruises on his shins and pain throbbing in his stomach and back.

Never in his life would he have thought he would ever, _ever_ be beaten up by a girl. Yes, he'd been slapped in the face about a hundred times, but this Karissa girl beat him up like a man. With punches and kicks and the occasional swear word, Sirius finally realized that Karissa really wasn't like any other girl he has ever met.

She was stubborn, strong and fierce. She reminded him of Lily Evans, but she screamed less. Although Lily was a lot more sure and confident. Every single time Sirius complimented Karissa, saying she was pretty, adorable, etc. she just rolled her eyes and responded with, "I'm really not" or "as if". Her self-confidence was pretty low for someone so gorgeous looking.

"Fine then!" Sirius yelled in the direction of her house. "I'll just wait outside for you!"

And wait he did.

Karissa really couldn't understand this guy. Did he actually, honestly, sincerely like her?

Hah, be real. Obviously, he wanted to get a quick hook-up or something. It was pretty hard to believe that a guy actually liked her. Karissa had never had a boyfriend in her life, nor a boy who had called her pretty before. Sirius had given her more compliments that day and yesterday than anyone other than her parents in the past five years combined. But then again, it wasn't that hard of a feat.

But after a full hour had passed, Karissa wasn't so sure about her original opinion. She peeked out of the living room window and saw Sirius there, sitting in the grass. He smoothed down his hair and then fanned himself with his hand. He grabbed the bottom of his shirt and rubbed off some sweat from his forehead.

_He'll leave eventually_, Karissa thought to herself. _Now about that homework…_

In about half an hour, Karissa had none of her homework done. Her eyes kept flitting over to Sirius, who was still sitting on her lawn. She kept telling herself to focus, but less than a minute after saying that, she found herself looking towards him again.

Until he left, she would have no work done at all. So she got up and went outside.

Sirius looked up at her and smiled. "See? I knew you'd come outside."

"It's been nearly two hours," she told him. "Aren't you burning up?"

"Sweat is dripping from my nose, I'm in dire need of a shower and my shirt is soaked with sweat," he said. He flashed another smile, this time looking a bit pained. "What do _you_ think, Karissa?"

She looked away from him and sighed. "Come inside." Without another word, she went back into her house.

"Yes!" Sirius exclaimed, as he hopped up and joined her inside. Karissa pretended to not have seen his triumphant fist-pump as he followed her.

"Mum!" Karissa called, as she went down the hallway. "I have a…_friend_ over!" Karissa looked over her shoulder at Sirius with a look that clearly stated, "Give my mom any weird ideas and I swear to God I will choke you".

A woman who looked like an older version of Karissa but with light brown hair appeared. "Oh, wonderful!" Her cheery smile vanished when she noticed the dark splotches on his shirt. "Oh…oh my goodness, you're soaked! Is that sweat?"

"Uuhh…" Sirius and Karissa shared a look.

"You should take a shower! Right away!"

Karissa's mum was immediately ushering Sirius upstairs, saying, "Oh dear, did you walk all the way here or something?"

"You could say that," he responded. _More like, I waited two hours on your lawn for your daughter to finally feel sympathy for me and let me inside. And where were you the whole time?_

The next thing Karissa knew, Sirius was taking a shower at her house while her mother started going on and on about how handsome he was.

"Is he a friend from school?" Karissa's mum asked. "He's so handsome. Oh wait, don't tell me…" Mrs. Jenkin's gave her daughter a shy smile. "Is he your boyfriend?"

Karissa went through about five shades of pink. "No! No, no way! Someone like _him_? That's not even possible." Karissa didn't know if she was insulting Sirius or herself.

"Are you sure? You've never brought a friend home before, let alone a boy," Mrs. Jenkin's went on. "If you want to go out with him, you have my permission."

"No, Mum! Just…no." Karissa was on her way up the stairs, trying to avoid the awkward conversation topic of boys with her mother. "I'm going into my room! If Sirius comes out, can you give him some of dad's clothes or something while we clean his?"

Mrs. Jenkin's agreed.

_Me? Go out with someone like _him_? _Karissa thought. She shook her head, some layers of hair coming out of her ponytail and framing the side of her face. How could someone like him go out with someone like her? It was impossible. He was so handsome. If he saw how she looked when she went to school, he would definitely not call her pretty. He wouldn't say things like, "You're unexpectedly adorable". He probably wouldn't even talk to her.

She sighed and took out a piece of parchment paper and a pencil. Then she began to draw.

When she drew, Karissa always felt like she was in another world. No…she felt like she was _creating_ her own world. Something that she could make with the scratch of her pencil and change with a swipe of an eraser. And she loved it.

Now, what shall she draw today? An animal? A sunset? A person?

For a minute, she closed her eyes and visualized something. _Someone_. Then she began to draw.

After many slow, long minutes, Karissa realized she wasn't alone.

"Wow. It's like looking in the mirror," Sirius commented, as he took the piece of parchment off of her desk to get a better look at it. A picture of a smiling Sirius Black stared back at him. "This is really good. It looks exactly like me. It's so…_real_."

Karissa blushed. "Thanks," she mumbled. She reached out her hand to take the parchment back, but he held it out of her grasp.

Sticking out his tongue at her, he said, "Nuh-uh. I'm keeping this."

"I didn't make it for you," Karissa said, glaring.

"But it's _of_ me," Sirius said. "Wow, you must've stared at me a lot to get this much detail. It's absolutely brilliant."

Karissa sighed. "Really. Stop complimenting me. Most compliments aimed towards me aren't true. Just sympathy, really."

Karissa's mum came through the doorway. "Hey, would you two like some butterbeer?"

Sirius' eyes widened. "Butterbeer?" He looked down at Karissa, who stared back at him with wide eyes. She chewed her lips nervously.

"You're _not_ a muggle?"

* * *

**A/N: And so…Karissa isn't a muggle! Not sure if it was obvious or not, but…there ya go. **

**See you guys next Saturday!**

**Preview of Chapter Three:**

_He gestured at the faded jeans that reached the top of his ankles and a white, stained T-shirt. "I'm still wearing her dad's clothes!"_

_So you could only imagine her surprise when Sirius Black came bumbling through the woods like an insane buffoon._

"…_I swear, keep your windows locked or something, dear Karissa. He might be scaling up your house just to kidnap you in your sleep or something."_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: THANK YOU FOR READING THE LAST CHAPTER! 33**

**Ohh, and I almost forgot! I haven't put these in any of the other chapters yet, so…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! But I do own all of my OCs, this plot and…yeah!**

* * *

**Chapter Three:**

Seeing as this probably wasn't a good time, Mrs. Jenkins left the two mugs of butterbeer on Karissa's desk and left, closing the door behind her with an uncomfortable glance at the two teenagers.

"I thought you were a muggle!" Sirius exclaimed, once he was sure her mother had left and wasn't listening in. At least he had the decency to wait and not explode in front of Mrs. Jenkins. "Why'd you lie to me?"

"Because!" Karissa scowled and sat down on her bed. "Because it was the first time someone as popular and loved for as you has ever talked to me!"

Sirius stared at her. "So you _do_ know me?"

Karissa scoffed. "Of course I know you! You're Sirius Orion Black! _Everyone_ knows you. But obviously, you don't know everybody. You don't even recognize me. You think you know the people that are so close to you, yet you seem to be looking right past them, as if they don't exist." Her tone was cold.

"Wait…so are you from Hogwarts or what?" Sirius asked.

Karissa stared at him with a hard look in her eyes. "Think about it."

Then, without another word, she opened her bedroom door and gestured outwards.

Sirius, for once, took the hint.

* * *

"I just don't get it!" Sirius exclaimed, frustrated and annoyed. He kicked a pillow across his room, nearly knocking over a lamp in the process. "_She_ lied to _me_. Why was she so bloody angry then? Shouldn't I be the one yelling at _her_?"

On the other side of the room, lying down on Sirius' bed was James. He moaned in exasperation, while saying, "Lily hasn't responded to my owl yet. I don't know what I did though!"

"You know, that Karissa girl really has some nerve being angry at me." Sirius paced his room and ran a hand through his hair. "At _me_! You know, if she just told me from the start that she wasn't a muggle, maybe I wouldn't have gotten so involved with her." He muttered something incoherently that contained the words, "wench" and "sandwich".

"It was probably the cookies she sent me," James said, in sudden realization. "I said that they tasted great…Should I have said they were the most amazing things I've ever eaten?"

"And then she goes ahead and kicks me out of her house!" Sirius added, with a furious growl. "And look! Look at what I'm wearing!" He gestured down at the faded jeans that reached the top of his ankles and a stained, white T-shirt. "I'm still wearing her dad's clothes!"

"No, it can't be the cookies," James told himself. He gave himself a few knocks on the forehead with his knuckles. "It must be something else. What do you think, Sirius?"

Sirius didn't stop pacing. It didn't even seem like he knew James was in the same room. "Karissa is being absolutely ridiculous. I didn't do anything wrong!"

James blinked and stared blankly. He sat up and stated, "I don't think we're talking about the same thing here."

"Merlin…" Sirius ran another hand through his hair. "Dear Godric! _Women_ _sometimes_!"

"No, never mind." James gave a small grin to his best friend. "We're talking about the exact same thing."

"And those were my favourite pair of jeans, too!" Sirius blabbered on. "She better return them to me." Then his eyes brightened up for a bit. "Oi, Prongs! Come over here!"

James waved a hand in front of his friend's face. "I've been here the whole time, Sirius."

"Were you?"

"Yep."

"Oh." Sirius sent him an apologetic smile. "Sorry. But anyways, do you know a girl named Karissa?"

"From where? Hogwarts?" James asked.

"No, the shoe store!" Sirius exclaimed. His friend stared at him. "_Of course, from Hogwarts!_"

James shook his head at him. "Merlin, what's got your knickers in a twist?"

"Bloody Karissa does!"

"I gathered that, thanks." The messy-haired Potter rolled his eyes. "And no, I don't think so. Unless, of course, she's the chaser in Holyhead Harpies, which I'm doubting she is. What's her last name?"

"…"

"You don't even know her last name?"

"Well I didn't think of asking, I was too busy being shoved out of her house!"

James sighed. "Jeez, this girl has really made some impression on you, huh?"

Sirius mumbled something that sounded a bit like, "ridiculous" and "threatened to throw me out of a window" (James had no idea what that last bit was about, but frankly he didn't want to ask). Then, with his voice raised to normalcy, he said, "I remember seeing it on one of her drawings. It started with a 'J' or something."

"Drawings?" James asked, curiously.

"Yeah, she makes these amazing sketches of animals, people, nature…everything!" Sirius started to smile a wide, bright smile that made his eyes come alive and twinkle. He seemed to completely to forget about being angry with her. "They look so realistic. They're completely gorgeous, to be honest. Oh!" Sirius took something out of the back of Karissa's dad's jeans. "A sketch she drew of me," he told him, handing the parchment to James. "Amazing, ain't it?"

While James examined the picture, Sirius rummaged through his closet and found some of his own clothes. He took off the clothes Karissa's mum had loaned him and threw them to one side. _Bloody ridiculous girl. Better wish that her dad won't mind me taking his clothes._

"I think I've seen this before." James finally spoke.

Sirius, after tugging on some shorts and one of his own T-shirts looked over at him, surprised. "Really? So…she's drawn me before?" He wasn't sure whether he should be flattered or creeped out.

"No, just the signature at the bottom," James elaborated.

Sirius took the page from James and his eyes trailed to the bottom of the parchment. A swirly K and J surrounded what looked like a quick sketch of a rose. Even though it was probably a quick sketch for Karissa, it would probably have taken hours for Sirius to create.

"K.J." So Sirius was right, knowing her last name started with a J. What was it then? Jones? Jacobs? Karissa Jayne? None of them rang a bell in his mind.

But then again, neither did the name Karissa.

Sirius sighed and sat down on the floor, his hands making circles on the cold wooden floor-boards of his room. "Hey Prongs, I'd like your very honest opinion on this," Sirius told him.

"Alright. Go 'head, then," James responded.

"Karissa said something about me thinking that I know people who are so close to me, but looking past them as if they don't exist or…something like that." He scratched his head and looked up at his best friend.

"And?"

"Well…" Sirius waved out a hand, gesturing for him to go on. "Just…"

"You're wondering if she was speaking the truth or not," James finished.

"Yeah."

James chewed the inside of his cheek a bit. "Kinda true, to be honest."

Sirius sighed. He was really like that? He never thought of himself that way. Was he really looking past people as if they didn't exist?

"Well, think about it for a second, Padfoot," James continued. "How many fangirls do you have at Hogwarts—or anywhere, actually?"

"…A lot."

"That's right. A lot," James agreed. "Do you really think you could keep track of all those girls? Know all of their names, say hi to each and every one of them in the morning and during class?"

What a good friend he was, that James. Sirius felt better about himself already.

"No, that'd be nearly impossible," Sirius said. "So Karissa _was_ being unreasonably irritated."

"Weeelll…." James rocked his head back and forth, pondering his options. "Maybe she's been really close to us this entire time, but none of us have noticed."

They sat there for a moment, thinking about who Karissa might be at Hogwarts. Surely she wasn't one of their professors…She definitely wasn't in Gryffindor either. Sirius and James may not know all the girls at Hogwarts, but they knew most—if not, _all_—of the Gryffindors.

"Oh!" James exclaimed, standing up from his seat on Sirius' bed. "You know how I said that I've seen her signature before? Her initials?"

"Yeah?"

"Her pictures," he went on. "I always see them around the castle. Left behind in the classrooms, littering the floor in the Great Hall, in the Hospital Wing, the library-"

"What were you doing in the library?" Sirius asked, looking shocked.

James rolled his eyes. "I was studying."

"You can study?"

"Oh, shut up, Pads!"

Sirius laughed as James through a stuffed Quidditch snitch pillow at him.

"So…she's someone who draws a lot," Sirius deducted. Then he scowled. "Really. Tell me something I don't already know."

"Well, someone probably knows who she is, then," James said. "If we ask around Hogwarts for the girl who draws a lot, _someone_ has got to know who she is."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah…"

"Then you can properly apologize to her."

"…No."

"You're as stubborn as hell sometimes, you know?" James told him.

"I know."

* * *

Mrs. Jenkins wanted to ask Karissa about the boy that left earlier, but her daughter didn't seem to be in the best mood.

Karissa was sighing for the rest of the day and she talked less often. Truth be told, Karissa was like that a lot of the time. But this time, Mrs. Jenkins actually had a vague idea of what was wrong.

"Was he a good friend of yours?" she asked her daughter, who was sitting at the kitchen table, drawing a picture of a vase full of flowers that was across from her. A steaming mug of hot chocolate was beside her elbow.

That was just the type of girl she was, that Karissa. The type that drank hot chocolate in the summer, ate ice cream in the winter. She'd rather eat a steak for breakfast and waffles for dinner, had the urge to go for a long, relaxing stroll in the rain and was too lazy to go for a walk when the weather was actually nice.

It wasn't that Mrs. Jenkin's thought that her daughter was weird. Honestly, she thought her daughter was brilliant. She was intelligent, beautiful and gentle. But was also strong and stubborn when she needed to be. But for some reason, she had the feeling that Karissa was lonely. She had never brought any friends home, never talked about them.

Then that handsome boy came. Sirius was his name.

"He wasn't," Karissa answered, as she sharpened her pencil. "Just some guy who popped by. Thought it'd be fun to tease me."

"Are you getting bullied at school?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Mum!"

"Alright, alright." Mrs. Jenkin's just smiled softly at her daughter, who was scribbling away in her notepad. She looked at the clock on the wall. "Don't you leave at around this time?" she asked her. "To do…whatever it is you do at 11:30 in the morning?"

Karissa looked up at the clock and her eyes widened. "I'm leaving! I'll be back for lunch!"

She took one last swig of her hot chocolate and then stuffed her pencil case and notepad into a mini, white backpack.

Then she was off.

Every single day in the summer, without fail, Karissa would walk up the trail in the forest that was in her backyard. She'd walk for what felt like ages, but was really around fifteen minutes. She'd take a few turns, backtrack a bit and sketch a quick flower or leaf she saw on her way.

Her final destination though, was a giant sunflower that had sprouted out of the ground. A few meters to its left was a mini little stream that gurgled over smooth rocks and pebbles.

Karissa took off her flip-flops and dipped her feet into the cool stream. Then she closed her eyes and relaxed.

It was a special tiny spot, reserved just for her. She didn't know anyone else who knew about this little place, and she preferred it that way. Karissa was independent, in case you haven't noticed.

Quiet, tranquil and serene. Just like it always was.

So you could only imagine her surprise when Sirius Black came bumbling through the woods like an insane buffoon.

"Aha!" he exclaimed, a smile on his face. "I _knew_ I'd find you here!"

She raised her eyebrows. "How could you have known?"

"I went to your house and asked your mum. She said she always sees you walk into the forest," he explained. "So I just followed the path."

That made Karissa even more confused. "I only walked on the path for the first five minutes. I get off it for the next ten. How could you have found me?"

Sirius didn't think that it was the right time to tell her that he was secretly an animagus and that he simply followed her scent, so he just didn't answer.

"So I asked my best mate on advice as to why you seemed so cross with me earlier," Sirius went on, changing the subject.

"You're coming to apologize?" Karissa asked, looking genuinely surprised.

"Why are you so shocked about that?" Sirius questioned, feeling offended.

"You're self-centered and arrogant. Everyone would be shocked," Karissa reasoned.

"Well if you know so much about me, then surely you know that many, many girls at Hogwarts are head-over-heels in love with me," Sirius told her.

"I also know that you can't remember the name of the girl you wake up beside the next morning."

"Ooohh, burn, sizzle!" James' voice came from behind him. He showed up, fumbling his way out of a bush, where his shorts had gotten caught by a branch.

"Oh, shut up Prongs."

"And you're James Potter," Karissa said, looking over at him with her icy blue eyes. "Doubt you know who I am. Unless this idiot here has told you about me."

"What do you mean, him telling me about you?" James laughed. "This idiot won't bloody shut up about you. It's been Karissa this, Karissa that, ever since the night he happened to stumble upon you. I swear, keep your windows locked or something, dear Karissa. He might be scaling up your house just to kidnap you in your sleep or something."

"James, shut-!" Before Sirius could finish his sentence, he heard something he had never heard before.

Karissa was laughing. The sound was like music to his ears. Her face lit up and her eyes lost the cold, icy feeling they had before. Now they looked like the bright blue sky, peaceful and alive.

"How could I not have noticed you before?" Sirius asked, almost gaping.

Karissa stopped laughing and her smile was slowly fading away. "Not a lot of people notice me, to be honest."

"You're joking," Sirius told her, with a raise of his eyebrow.

"I'm serious." Then, she cracked another smile. "Hahah! I just got that. I'm _Sirius_." She tried to keep a straight face, but ended up laughing anyways.

"You're unexpectedly immature," Sirius told her.

She smiled in his direction. For a second, Sirius' chest felt a little weird. Like someone was clenching his heart and then releasing it again.

"And you, Sirius Black. You still haven't apologized to me yet. Let me hear it then." Karissa crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly.

"Do you always get what you want?" he asked her.

"Always."

* * *

**A/N: SO THERE YOU HAVE IT! Please review and all that good stuff! Purrrttyyy pleeaassee!**

**Please check back on next Friday! for a new chapter! **

**-kris**

**Preview of Chapter Four:**

_He didn't recognize either of them. Neither of them looked like Karissa at all._

"_Hit me again, Rissa. It excites me when you take control," Sirius told her in an overly-dramatic voice. James laughed. Karissa didn't._

"_Sirius, is she the challenge or the trophy?"_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I AM SO SORRY!**

**I promised to update yesterday, and I didn't, and for that I give you my deepest apologies. :( Forgive me? Maybe not, so I'll post again on Wednesday, and then start updating weekly on Friday's again, okay?**

**Sorry! But here's the next chapter, and thank you for waiting!**

**Chapter Four**

James ogled at the new broomstick at Broomstix (obviously, a shop that sold broomsticks). It was gorgeous, with a sleek, glossy coating and silver embellishments.

"C'mon, Prongs," Sirius prodded him. "We're here to buy our new textbooks, remember?"

James reluctantly tore his eyes away from the broomstick and nodded.

They were at Diagon Alley, doing their yearly shopping for their seventh and final year of studying at Hogwarts. But, as always, they were getting distracted but every other little thing that they passed by.

"Look at that bat!"

"Ooh, that owl!"

"Hey, that looks yummy."

"OH! That girl is hot."

James laughed and rolled his eyes. "Really?" he asked, looking over to where Sirius was staring. A girl with short, blond hair bobbed through the crowd.

"Not as hot as Karissa though," Sirius mentioned, examining her closely.

James was used to Sirius making references to Karissa every ten seconds and didn't say anything about it. He really wasn't sure what was happening to his best friend. Less than a month ago, Sirius was staring at every woman that passed by, commenting on their chest and arse. Then he'd snog every other girl that caught his eye, a different one every three days. But ever since he met Karissa, she was the only girl he talked about.

"You know, it'd be pretty cool if we saw her around here, shopping for the same things we were," Sirius noted. "Ooh, you think she's here? Where do you think she would go?"

James stared at him. "Sirius, honestly?"

"Oh, I know!" Sirius exclaimed. "If Karissa were here, she'd probably go to Scribbulus Writing Instruments. You know, to buy all her pencils and parchment for her drawings."

"Sirius?"

"Do you think she has a sweet tooth?" Sirius wondered, looking around. "Sugarplum's Sweet Shop, maybe. Maybe she went there. Wanna check? We might see her!"

"Sirius…"

"Or maybe she went for ice cream, at Florean Fortescue's." Sirius' eyes were already wandering over to where the little ice cream shop was. "You feel up for some frozen yogurt or something?"

"Sirius!" James shouted, grabbing his friend by the shoulders. "Shut. The hell. Up."

The handsome sixteen year old quieted down. He shrugged James' hands off his shoulders and asked, "What?"

"You're been talking about Karissa the moment we left the house up until now," James informed him. "You're really infatuated with her, aren't you?"

Sirius' expression made it look like James had just slapped him and said, "Sorry. That was my cat".

"Infatuated?" Sirius echoed, looking bewildered. "_Me_? Infatuated with a girl like _her_? Hah! As if. I'm a player, Prongsie boy. I have girls throwing themselves at me left, right, front and back. Hell, they're even falling out of the sky for me. Did I tell you about that time this ghost-"

James held up a hand. "You're getting off topic."

He cleared his throat. "Right, sorry." Sirius continued, "Anyways, no. I'm not _infatuated_. As if I'll ever settle with _one_ girl. Have you ever heard about me actually falling in love?"

"It's possible."

Sirius scoffed. "I broke one too many hearts, Prongs. I don't think it is."

James gave him a half-smile. "Whatever you say, Pads. So how 'bout we head over to Gambel and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop? We need to stock up on some Filibuster Fireworks." (Again, both of them didn't realize that they were being distracted from their original task of buying their textbooks.)

And so they went, heading towards the south side of Diagon Alley. The two boys saw a large building set between Obscurus Books and Twilfit and Tattings.

"Whoa, wait up!" James exclaimed, grabbing Sirius' arm before they entered the joke shop. He recognized his girlfriend's long red hair in the shop window of Obscurus Books and immediately dragged his friend along with him as he called, "Lily!"

They entered the shop, a bell chiming above the door as they entered. Rows of shelves went around the store, filled with books. A girl walked passed them with dark hair and her arms piled up with books. One of them dropped, and Sirius picked it up for her. But before he could return it, she rushed away without another word.

"Um, you're welcome?" he called over to her. When she didn't even look back, Sirius muttered, "Wowie. Rude."

James just shrugged and continued over to the red-haired beauty. While James and Lily were having some boyfriend-girlfriend time, Sirius tried to find the girl again.

What was she wearing again? It looked like jeans and a grey T-shirt that seemed a few sizes too big. He walked through the aisles and then his eyes locked on her in an instant. She was sitting at a small square table near the window.

"Hey," he said, smoothly sliding into the seat across from her. "You dropped this."

She looked up. She wore circular glasses that didn't compliment her…well, _at all._ "Thanks." She cleared her throat awkwardly and tucked a stray strand of her brown hair behind her ear. "Um…I'll be leaving now."

She got up, but then yelped out in surprise as she bunked into another girl. Her long hair was the same colour as the other one who had dropped the books, but was tied up in a high-pony tail. Her clothes were dark-coloured, a black T-shirt and grey jeans.

"Sorry!" they said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed. Then they walked the same way over to the cashier's desk.

That was when Sirius noticed a piece of parchment on the floor. He picked it up and recognized the soft strokes of a pencil that made up a picture of a hippogriff. But what he recognized the most was the initials. K.J, surrounding a quick sketch of a rose.

Karissa.

He shot up, looking around for the two girls that had just left. Sirius couldn't see them. He ran all around the book store, getting yelled at twice by Lily and three times by the manager of the shop.

But the two girls weren't there anymore.

It was weird though. He didn't recognize either of them. Neither of them looked like Karissa at all.

_That would probably explain why I never noticed Karissa at Hogwarts before, _Sirius thought._ She doesn't look the same way as she does at home. _

She looked…well, average. Basing his thoughts on the first girl, she would've looked lower than average. How could either of those two girls be the gorgeous _Karissa_? Sirius couldn't believe it. Hell, he didn't _want_ to believe it.

Or maybe Karissa lied. She didn't actually say she was from Hogwarts when he asked her. She had just said, "Think about it". Maybe she was from Beauxbaton's. Sirius knew how bloody attractive the girls were from there.

* * *

Sirius Black and James Potter sat at the kitchen table of the Potter Mansion, the day before September first. The day before they had to return to Hogwarts. The day before they had to hand in their summer homework.

Which, by the way, they forgot to do.

"Essays!" James exclaimed, slamming his quill down onto the wooden surface of the table. "Too many essays!" He groaned in annoyance and laid his head on the table. "If only Lily was here."

Sirius' eyes flicked over at him. "I know what you mean. We're smart, but lazy. I don't want to write another word of this Potion's essay. The Slug will just have to deal with it." He tossed his quill off to the side. It fell to the ground with a hollow clack.

"I bet Lily would help me write it," James muttered. "She just had to have this "girls night" thing with Alice." He moaned again, saying, "_She chose Alice over me!_"

Suddenly, Sirius shot up from his seat. "Let's ask Karissa! We can go over to her house and do homework together!"

"What if she's really stupid and doesn't know anything?" James asked. He didn't want to waste his time getting on a motorcycle and flying over to Karissa's house (which, by the way, they still didn't exactly know where it would be on a map) and asking for help when he could be doing all the homework he still had left.

Sirius thought for a second. "I'm sure she's smart. She doesn't look like the dumb type." What do dumb people even look like, he wondered? Like a troll, maybe.

James sighed. "I sure hope you're right."

* * *

Her answer was immediate.

"No way," Karissa told them, crossing her arms haughtily. Today, her hair was tied up in a loose braid over her left shoulder. Her front bangs were held up on the top of her head with a pink clip. She was wearing jean shorts that reached her mid-thighs and a white T-shirt that had the word "LOVE" written on it in baby pink letters.

"Whyy nooooot?" Sirius whined, putting on his best puppy-dog face. He elbowed James in the ribs and encouraged him to start pouting as well. He listened.

"Well it's your own fault that you didn't do your homework, isn't it?" Karissa responded, not in the least bit affected by the begging teenagers. "Why should I do it?"

"Can we do it at your house?" Sirius asked.

"Why?"

"So it'll be fun!"

Karissa just scowled and shut the door in their face.

"Well then," James said. "That plan failed." He gave a sideways glance towards his best friend. "Should we just leave then?"

Sirius had a determined expression on his face. "Leave? Never."

* * *

Karissa was peacefully packing her trunk with her textbooks that she had bought from Diagon Alley. Quills in the front left, notebooks in the back right, clothes at the very bottom….She turned around, heading towards her closet when she stopped dead in her tracks.

Sirius and James were sitting in the middle of her room, seemingly having a staring contest.

"What—but—how—why…?" Karissa seemed unable to utter a proper sentence.

"Shush, Rissa, this is getting intense," Sirius demanded, holding up a hand. Karissa walked over to him and pushed her foot into the side of his face, knocking him down.

"Did you just call me 'Rissa'?" Karissa asked him. Surprisingly, they were still continuing their staring contest, even with Sirius on the ground.

"Hit me again, Rissa. It excites me when you take control," Sirius told her in an overly-dramatic voice. James laughed. Karissa didn't.

She responded with lifting up a clenched fist and Sirius quickly swallowed back his words. "Sorry! I forgot how manly you are."

"Ugh!" she cried out, exasperated. He was just so impossible! How do people deal with him? Annoying, egotistical, perverted, idiotic…She could go on and on. "Why are you two even here? No wait—_how_ did you two even get _in_ here? Get out of this house! Don't you have homework to do?"

The duo was quiet, until James suddenly sprang up to his feet. Triumph covered his face as he thrust a finger towards Sirius' defeated expression. "HAH! I WIN! What now, Padfoot? What now? Who has the eyes of steel now, hmm!? HMM!?"

"Unfair!" Sirius called out. "Karissa distracted me!"

"_Get out of my house!_"

Sirius looked ticked off. He stood up and glared down at the shorter girl in front of him. "Make me."

* * *

"I don't understand how you didn't see that coming," James mentioned, looking at his friend's black-eye sympathetically. They were back at James' house, lounging on the couches, still not doing their homework. "Jeez, Sirius. You're like an angsty twelve year old girl. First you're head over heels in love with her and the next second you're calling her manly. What's with you? And what happened to wanting to stay at her house for the day?"

Sirius glared at him through his quickly swelling eyes. "Shut up!" He shook his head, his hair getting even more messed up than it was before. "Just…shut up. I didn't want her to hit me again, so I left like a mature adult would."

"A mature adult?" James echoed. The sixteen year old smirked. "I'm pretty sure I saw you crying."

"I wasn't crying!" Sirius defended himself, as he cautiously dabbed a pack of ice under his eye. "It was a coincidence that when she punched me in the face, something got into my eye."

"Yeah, _tears_ got in your eye," James responded.

"Did not!" Sirius looked extremely flustered. Probably in a mix of confusion over Karissa and defensiveness over the fact that he hadn't cried.

James gave him a look, searching his friend's troubled face. He sighed and patted Sirius on the back. "You'll get her, Padfoot."

"Really?" Sirius' eyes lit up like a four year olds on Christmas morning. It honestly was starting to scare James. How could it be so obvious that he liked this girl to him, yet the man himself couldn't even accept the idea of it?

"You know, I think she likes me," Sirius told him, an arrogant smirk on his face. His smirk would usually make him look mischievous and sexy, but with swollen eyes and a bruised jaw, he looked more like a troll grinning at something like a pervert.

"Really." James didn't look convinced. At all. "What makes you say that, Pads?"

Sirius leaned back, stretching his arms behind his head. "Well, I've got this feeling you know. Whenever I'm around her. I can just sense her love for me."

"And what's that feeling like?"

"I…I don't know." Sirius looked a bit confused. "Not any feeling I've had before, though." His arrogant smirk was back, along with the perverted troll face. "She must really like me or something."

He was an idiot. Sirius Orion Black was honestly a complete idiot when it came to love.

"You know what, Sirius?" James stood up, clamping a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "When we get to Hogwarts, we're going to figure out exactly who this Karissa girl is."

Sirius smiled at him. "Thanks Prongs."

"No problem." Then, suddenly, James' eyes widened. "Oh, damn! We forgot to ask her what her last name was!"

Sirius stared. "Let's go back!" he demanded, already on his feet and heading towards the door.

James stood in front of him, blocking his path. "Sirius. Honestly, let's just ask her tomorrow."

"But it's the first day of school tomorrow! What if I never see her again?" When the words left his mouth, Sirius couldn't figure out why they sounded so weird. Did he have a sore throat or something?

No, that wasn't it. It was just that he'd never actually said those words before. Ever. _What if I never see her again? _He was worried. It was as if she were already such a big part of his life, and he couldn't figure out why.

_Because I didn't even kiss her yet, that's why!_ Sirius thought to himself. She was still one of the only girls he hasn't even kissed yet. That's what was wrong. That was why he was so intent on not leaving her just yet. He needed to win over her heart, so he could proudly present to everyone that he was the ultimate womanizer.

So that's what she was. A challenge. This Karissa whatever-her-last-name-was was the ultimate challenge.

He told James this, and the boy looked back at him amusedly. "Sirius, is she the challenge or the trophy?"

Sirius looked sincerely confused. "What do you mean?"

"Would you rather be loved or loved back?" James elaborated.

"When the hell did you get so deep?" Sirius asked him with mocking smirk. Potter shrugged, and Sirius assumed that it was because of Lily that he had become so poetic lately.

Then, Black thought about what James had said. Okay, he wasn't _that_ stupid. There was a difference to winning over a girl's heart and a girl's mind. But when it came to him….He'd snog a girl senseless and leave her for another girl the same day. Yet sometimes they would still like him. They'd think that he honestly liked them, they'd think that one day he'll go back to them.

But Sirius never truly liked any of them. They loved him, he didn't love them.

So what was Karissa to him? All he really wanted was a kiss from her. Not a forced one, but a willing kiss from her. And the only way he'd get a real kiss from the girl was if she started to fall in love with him.

Yeah, Sirius wanted her to love him. But being loved back is a different story.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews for the previous chapter! I really hope all of you guys understand how sincere I am about this! Thank you all so much!**

**I'd love to hear about some of your theories as to who Karissa really is, by the way! Leave some in reviews? **

**Come back next week for a new chapter of "Who Are You?" on Saturday!**

**Preview of Chapter Five:**

"_No, but you're…you're _that_ girl!" Sirius exclaimed, as he sat in the seat across from her. "You were at the bookstore in Diagon Alley that one day!"_

_-x-x-x_

"_You're the most ridiculously dressed person I've ever met," Sirius retorted. "Except for McGonagall at four in the morning." When Rina gave him a blank look, he just shuddered and responded with, "Don't ask."_

_-x-x-x_

_This time, it was her sentence that had gotten cut off by Sirius' childish exclamation of, "OH MERLIN, THE FOOD TROLLEY!"_


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: So, as I hope most of you know, I was late in updating last time, so here is an early one! I'll update again this Friday, and then it'll be regularly weekly again.**

**Chapter Five:**

Sirius woke up with an entire gallon of freezing cold water being splashed onto his head. He spluttered, blinked and rolled frantically out of his bed. Then he shot up in a sort of odd defensive position, as if he was trying to come off as some kind of karate master.

James stood a few feet away from him, laughing cheerily with a plastic bucket in his hands.

"What was that for!?" Sirius exclaimed, looking down at his soaked pajama shirt. "Bloody hell, it's freezing!" He rubbed his arms, trying to muster up some warmth. He glared at his friend. "Stop laughing!"

"It's pretty funny," James told him, with a grin still on his face. "You're taking a shower anyways. Now hurry up, we're leaving in about an hour."

"Leaving where?" Sirius looked extremely disorientated. How he could still look half-asleep after having icy water dumped on his head, James couldn't understand.

"Where?" James rolled his eyes as he dropped the bucket onto the floor and kicked it into a corner. "To Hogwarts, that's where."

* * *

Two girls walked side-by-side, one wearing a baggy orange shirt and black sweatpants. Round glasses framed her eyes, making her face look unnaturally small. Her hair was in a tangled mess, wrapped up in a messy bun at the back of her head.

The other girl looked around the same age, wearing a grey shirt and black pants. She looked in a lot better shape than her sister, and she told her that.

"Rina, why do you dress like that?" Kaylie asked her. "You wear such pretty clothes at home. Why don't you dress like that at school?"

Rina gave her twin a sideways glance. "What's the point? No one notices me anyways. Why would you dress a beetle up in a tux if no one is going to be looking at it?"

Kaylie blinked. "Why beetles?"

"Why not?" Rina smiled. "Anyway, I dress like this because there's no point in dressing nicely for me. I only do it at home because it makes mum all happy. No one looks at me at school though, so why should I put myself in such uncomfortable clothes?"

"Maybe people would notice you if you'd stop dressing like that." Kaylie shook her head as she looked down at the too-short pants that Rina was wearing. "Honestly, Rina. Where did you even get that?"

She shrugged. "Besides, I don't want to attention."

Kaylie gave her a look of sympathy. "It's not good to live your life like that. You should be more outgoing like big sis."

Rina made an odd sound in the back of her throat. "Yeah, well big sis is naturally awesome. I can't help being like this." She pulled at the ends of her shirt. "I'm fine with being alone."

Her twin gave her a sad smile. "Well…maybe if you try to be a bit more outgoing, you'll realize that you actually like attention and-"

"No!" Rina snapped out. "Who would want to be friends with me?"

"I would!"

"You're my twin sister, you don't count." Rina scowled. "I'm weird, a nerd, anti-social-"

Kaylie hit her sister with her palm in the back of Rina's head. "Stop talking like that! You may be weird, but the good kind of weird. You're different. Unique. Special." Rina rolled her eyes, but Kaylie continued anyways. "A nerd? So is studying a bad thing now? Is getting good grades not acceptable?"

"But-"

"And anti-social?" Kaylie shook her head. "If people could just see the real you, you would have tons of friends. Maybe even more than big sis!"

At that, Rina actually laughed. "No way! This is my seventh year, our last year at Hogwarts. I haven't made one friend in seven years. What makes you think that I'll suddenly get some this year?"

The Hogwarts Express chimed, signaling for everyone to get onboard. The twins pushed their trolleys faster, and then dragged their luggage up the steps of the train and into an empty compartment.

"This year will be _your_ year, Rina," Kaylie assured her as they sat down across from each other.

Rina smiled at her. "Whatever you say."

She looked outside the glass door of the compartment and into the narrow hallway. First years were running down the pathway, with grins on their faces. Returning students were meeting up with their friends, laughing, joking around. Rina saw a bunch of seventh years pass by, and she recognized every single one. She knew the name of everyone in her year, yet barely anyone knew her.

A few Hufflepuffs passed by and then double-backed when they saw Kaylie. They grinned and waved at Rina's sister, and slid the door open.

"Kaylie! Hey, how was-" A girl with short blonde hair snapped her mouth shut when she noticed Rina, with her tangled hair and weird-looking clothes. "Um…"

"Go ahead with your friends, Kaylie," Rina told her sister with a small smile. "It's fine."

"Are…are you sure?" asked Kaylie, looking unsurely from the blonde girl to her twin. When Rina nodded her consent, she gave her a grateful smile, grabbed her luggage, and switched compartments.

Rina could hear the blonde girl whisper, "Why are you friends with someone like her?"

Before she could hear Kaylie's reply, the compartment door closed. Rina was alone.

She looked out at the window at the families gathered outside. Parents were waving at their children that were sticking their heads out of windows. Rina wished her parents had come, but unfortunately they were busy.

It's not that they didn't want to come. It was just that Rina's older sister had a huge game that day, and since her parents had missed the last one, they made it their top priority to attend the one on September 1st.

Then, she heard the loud voices of two of the famous (or infamous, depending on your opinion) Marauders.

"Help me look for her!"

"No, Lily's over there!"

"She can wait!"

"No, she can't!"

"Prongs, you promised that we'd find her!"

Rina looked to her left at the chaos outside of her compartment. Sirius Black's and James Potter's voice were so loud that she could clearly hear their conversation through the glass door, without having to strain her ears.

"I'll help you look for her, Pads," James told him. "But honestly, let me have some time with Lily. I'll help you look for her later."

"But…you're Head Boy, Lily's Head Girl, Remus is a prefect and Peter is sick so he's not coming to school for another week or so…" Sirius pouted. "Who am I supposed to hang out with?"

James shrugged. Then he turned his eyes towards Rina, who hurriedly looked in the opposite direction.

"Hang out with her," James said, with a grin. He jabbed his thumb in Rina's direction. She couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

Sirius glanced over to where he was looking, and his eyes widened. "That's…"

"Anyways, I'm needed in the Head Boy and Girl compartment," James said. He looked quite proud of himself, as he puffed out his chest, showing off his Head Boy badge. "I get to order the prefects around." He pat Sirius on the shoulder. "See you later, Pads."

He walked off and Sirius stayed in place, staring at Rina. He slowly slid the door open and stepped inside.

"You're….that girl," he told her, pointing his index finger towards her face. He looked surprised her, as if she wasn't supposed to be here or something.

Rina looked up. Was he really going to sit with her until his friends came back? "I do happen to be a girl, yes."

"No, but you're…you're _that_ girl!" Sirius exclaimed, as he sat in the seat across from her. "You were at the bookstore in Diagon Alley that one day!"

Rina stared at him blankly.

"Don't you remember?" Sirius looked extremely excited. Sure, she didn't look like Karissa. But he had found a drawing of hers with the initials K.J. She didn't look like Karissa, but maybe she knew her.

"I…remember," Rina responded. "You picked my book up for me."

"And you, if I remember correctly," Sirius went on, "you didn't even say thank you."

"I _did_ say thank you," Rina responded.

"You did?"

"Pretty sure."

"Oh."

An awkward silence fell upon the two people in the compartment. Then, Sirius broke the ice, saying the words that were running through his mind.

"Do you know a girl named…Karissa?" he asked her tentatively.

Her response made his eyes light up. "Yes."

"Really?" He tipped his head back and laughed, his face looking joyful. "Woohoo! Alright! This is awesome! Can you tell me where she is? House? Grade? Does she even go to Hogwarts?"

"Karissa, as in the Karissa in Holyhead Harpies, the female Quidditch team," Rina elaborated. "She's a chaser."

Sirius' expression went from joyousness to disappointment in a matter of seconds. His mood deflated completely. "But…" He slumped down in the seat. "Damn."

Rina was curious, but she wasn't one to make conversation with a person she didn't know too well. Hell, she wasn't one to make conversation with anyone. She usually ended up weirding them out, boring them or spoke too bluntly and ended up insulting them.

But for some reason, she couldn't help the question spilling out of her mouth. "Who's Karissa?"

Sirius looked up at her with confused grey eyes. "That's the thing, really. I don't actually know."

She found that odd. "Why are you looking for a girl that you don't really know? That's a bit…stalkerish, don't you think?"

"Because she's cool," he responded. "She's got this great personality. Strong and fierce. Adorably shy sometimes." He shot her a look. "And I'm not a stalker."

"Could've fooled me."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Rina stared at him. Wasn't this Sirius Black? The notorious playboy, lover of all women? Flirting womanizer, snogged almost every girl at Hogwarts…_that_ Sirius Black? Rina thought it was him—it was hard to miss his handsome face. But why was he looking for a specific girl?

"She lacks confidence though," Sirius went on, looking out the window. "Don't know why. I think she's great."

"Does it worry you?" Rina asked him. When he stayed silent, she added, "Because she lacks confidence. Do you get worried for her?"

Sirius rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess? I don't know." He scowled and kicked his heel back against the seat. "It's just…she made this impression on me, you know?" he said, looking at her.

Rina understood, and she nodded at him silently. Once again, the compartment was filled with an awkward silence. What should she say to him? Ask him why he was still there? But that might come off as a bit rude, and she was trying her best not to be too blunt nowadays.

"What grade are you in?" Rina looked up at Sirius, who had just spoken. "I haven't really seen you around."

Rina cracked a smirk as she looked out the window, watching a forest zoom by.

"Something funny?" he asked her, tilting his head to the side. He followed her gaze and looked out the window, as if the thing Rina was smirking at was just outside.

"I'm in the same year as you," Rina responded slowly. "As for a guy who claims to know and have snogged every seventh year, I'd think you'd have at least seen me. At least once." Or maybe not. She never really got noticed anyway, so what were the chances of the most popular guy in school noticing her?

Sirius felt uncomfortable. She was a seventh year? How could he not have seen her before? He really needed to pay more attention to the people in his year. But he still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he had never seen her before. Did they not have any classes together or something?

"What house are you in?" he asked her.

"Guess."

"Seriously?"

Rina nodded.

"Alright…" Sirius thought for a bit. "Slytherin?"

She laughed, and Sirius found his mood lightening up, just from her laugh. "Do I look like a Slytherin to you?" she asked him.

It was the first time she had actually looked at his face properly, and so Sirius sent her a dazzling smile. She looked away hurriedly, and Sirius' flirtatious smile turned into one of slight affection. Her personality was kind of cute. _But not as cute as Karissa's_, he found himself thinking. Somehow, it always came back to that.

Sirius leaned back in his seat, folding his arms behind his head. "Well, who knows? You could be a Slytherin. Who knows what sneaky things you have hidden up your sleeve? I bet if you let down that hair of yours, took off those glasses, and changed your wardrobe a bit…" He whistled, looking her up and down. "I can imagine it already. Strutting about the castle with boys at your feet."

Rina offered him an amused smile. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"You're the most ridiculously dressed person I've ever met," Sirius retorted. "Except for McGonagall at four in the morning." When Rina gave him a blank look, he just shuddered and responded with, "Don't ask."

Rina wasn't even offended, because for some reason, when he said that, it didn't feel like the rude teasing that others would throw at her. His sounded purely, and whole-heartedly like a joke. Well, half a joke anyways. She _was_ dressed pretty weirdly.

"I've got it!" Sirius exclaimed, shooting up and snapping his fingers. "Once we get to Hogwarts, I'm going to give you a makeover."

The teenage girl gaped at him. "I'd rather you not."

"Oh, come on…" His sentence trailed off as he realized that he didn't even know her name. "Er…"

"Rina," she responded.

"Rina…" The name reminded him of the nickname he had given Karissa just the day before. Hopefully, he'd get to see her again and call her Rissa and have her hit him in the face in annoyance.

Whoa. Odd. Sirius didn't remember becoming a masochist.

"So, Rina," Sirius went on, as he sat back down in his seat. "Rina, Rina, Rina. I'm going to completely transform you, alright? And you'll be even more beautiful than….than….Aphrodite!"

"Hah!" Rina spluttered on her words, because the idea of her becoming more beautiful than the Greek goddess of love was far too absurd. "No way. I'm not having you give me any kind of makeover whatsoever."

"It'll be fun, I promise!" Sirius assured her.

Why would he even want to be associated with her? Rina couldn't understand. "Is this some kind of farfetched pickup line that you're trying out? Because just letting you know, it's not working at all."

"I'm not trying to get a snog from you." Sirius rolled his eyes. "Unless you turn out to be some kind of ultimate beauty and I just can't keep my hands off you. Now that I think about it, if we're doing this makeover thing we should probably find some private room, you know? One with a lock, so—"

"I still haven't agreed to this," Rina interrupted him. "Besides-" This time, it was her sentence that had gotten cut off by Sirius' childish exclamation of, "OH MERLIN, THE FOOD TROLLEY!"

The seventeen year old boy rushed out of the compartment, pulling a fistful of coins out of his pocket.

Rina looked wearily at him as Sirius just about ordered everything that the food trolley had to offer.

Questions littered her mind. Why was she here again? Why was she talking to Sirius? How come he was looking for Karissa? Why did he offer to give her a makeover? Was she even going to agree to this preposterous idea of getting a new look?

The answers would have had to wait, seeing as Sirius was trying to shove some pumpkin pasties into Rina's mouth, as she laughed along with him.

* * *

**A/N: Wowzers. Chapter Five is done already. Whooppee!**

**Thank you again for all the amazing feedback you guys have been giving me! Be sure to check in on Friday for a new chapter!**

**And...reviews please? I want to hear your thoughts on the story! Any predictions? Anything you might want to see happen? Suggestions, questions, comments? Please leave a review!**

**Preview of Chapter Six:**

_He looked Remus straight in the eye, and said, "Kick me in the balls."_

_x-x-x_

_The two Slytheirns toppled to the floor unexpectedly, and some of their fellow housemates accidentally tripped over them, their faces hitting the floor with a smash. Rina smiled._

_x-x-x_

_It wasn't, "I can see Karissa again!" but instead, the words "Why would Rina lie to me?" escaped from his mouth._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six:**

"So, how was your train ride with that girl?" James asked Sirius, when they finally managed to meet up with each other on the carriage ride to the castle.

Hogwarts looked the same as he always had, with pointed tips, dark stone walls and gigantic doors. Some windows were illuminated, and Sirius saw a few shadows pass by one. Teachers, probably.

"It was actually kind of nice," he finally responded, after a bit of thought. His friend raised an eyebrow and Sirius rolled his eyes. "Nice, as in, nice to talk to. She was a decent person."

"So…you didn't snog her?" He sounded surprised. Did someone drug him and then replace his best friend with a duplicate or something?

When Sirius shook his head, James' eyes actually widened. The shaggy-haired teenager gave scowled at him. "It's not like a snog every girl that's in a four meter radius."

"Actually, you do." Remus Lupin had joined the conversation, as their carriage bumped along the cement road leading up to the castle. "Wait, make that a two meter radius."

"Make that a one meter radius," James corrected.

"Actually, any girl within three feet," Remus added in.

"Any human being within three feet," James responded in turn.

"Any _animal_ within three feet," Remus noted.

"He'd make out with the air if he wanted to," James said. "Look, he's doing it right now!

Sirius, who was grinning with amusement, ended up trying to glare at them and failed miserably. "Shut up," he said and Remus and James laughed. "Anyway, as I was saying, she's a pretty nice person. Her name's Rina, too. Cute, ain't it?"

The two boys sitting across from Sirius simply shrugged and gave a slight nod.

"Well, I thought that if I gave her a new look, she'd actually look extremely pretty," Sirius continued. "So that's what I was planning to do."

Remus stared. "You're giving her a makeover?" he asked his friend incredulously. "And you two met, what, half an hour ago?"

"Yeah, and?"

"And you don't even want to snog her," James added in.

"Well, not really," Sirius told them. "I don't know. I just don't really have an urge to. Like, when pregnant women get cravings for certain things."

"I can't believe you just used a pregnant women as a metaphor," Remus mentioned, "directed at yourself." The werewolf grinned.

"What, so now you treat women like food?" James half-joked.

"Well there was this one time when I was with a girl last year, and I just bit her-" Sirius began, but he was quickly cut off by Remus shouting out, "No one wants to hear that, Padfoot!"

Sirius smirked. "Merlin, I was just going to say I bit her finger. I mean honestly," Sirius rolled his eyes, "you pervert."

Remus blushed and glared at his direction. "You really weren't going to say that."

"Eh, you're right. I was about to go on about her boobs, which by the way were gigant-"

"ANYWHO," James blurted out, stopping Sirius' sentence before it got too out of hand. "Did this Rina girl even agree to this 'makeover'? And now that I think of it, I've never heard of Rina before. Does she have a last name?"

"No, Prongs, she doesn't," Sirius remarked sarcastically. "Of course she has a last name. It's…" He trailed off.

Sirius almost smacked himself in the face. What was it with girls and their last names? How did he always manage to never ever ask them what it is? At this rate, he'll never find Karissa again. Maybe he won't even find Rina. They've been going to school together for six-going-on-seven years and he didn't even know she existed until now.

Seeing as Sirius didn't have a reply, Remus asked, "What about her house? Is she a Hufflepuff or something?"

Sirius' mouth opened and closed, only air coming out. This time, he really did face-palm. How could he be so stupid? Rina made him guess what house she was in and then…and then he started talking about giving her a makeover.

Oh Merlin, was he becoming more feminine?

He looked Remus straight in the eye, and said, "Kick me in the balls."

"….what?" Remus stared at his friend incredulously.

"Ooh, can I do it?" James piped up.

Sirius shot him a glare. "Don't get excited, Prongsie. I just want to make sure they're still there."

"What's 'they'?" Remus questioned wearily.

"My balls." It wasn't that hard of a request, now was it? Getting kicked in the jewels was just going to reassure Sirius that he was in fact a male.

"Not that I want to pass up on the chance of kicking another man in the crotch and getting away with it, but I'm very confused right now," Remus stated.

James just laughed as Sirius tried to think of many manly things that didn't include hair-products and makeovers.

* * *

"You'll be okay, right?" Kaylie asked Rina, as they entered the Great Hall. Rina was a Ravenclaw while Kaylie was a Hufflepuff, so they didn't see each other much during school-days. Rina also suspected that it was because Kaylie didn't really want to hang out with her too much in the first place, seeing as she had a lot more fun with her actual friends than with her.

Rina offered her a smile. "Of course I'll be okay," she responded. "I'm the older twin. I'm supposed to be asking you if _you'll_ be okay."

"Yeah, well…" Kaylie trailed off, and Rina knew what she was thinking. It was probably something along the lines of,_ I'm worried for you because you don't have any friends in your house._

Rina said her goodbyes to her sister as they went in their own separate ways, Rina heading to the Ravenclaw table.

She was dressed in her robes now, and not that "ridiculous-looking getup" that Sirius had called her clothes. The robes, at least, didn't look as bad as her sweatpants and too-big shirt, but she still hid her face under a tangled mass of hair and glasses.

Even as she walked over to her table and took a seat, it didn't seem like anyone could notice her. And, believe it or not, she liked it that way. And why was that, you may ask?

She could get away with anything that way.

For example; there, over by the Slytherin table. Two boys were pick-pocketing an oblivious Hufflepuff first-year who was waiting to get sorted by the Sorting Hat.

Rina, of course, knew their names already. She knew everyone's names. The two Slytherin's were Damon Ramnark and Julius Dirk. Sixth years now, and have been pick-pocketing other students since they were thirteen.

So, by the time the Sorting and dinner was over and everyone was headed towards their dorms, Rina followed them, being hidden by the mass of people. Not that they'd notice her even if they were alone.

She took her wand out soundlessly, and nonverbally casted the jelly-legs jinx to both of them. The two Slytherins toppled to the floor unexpectedly, and some of their fellow housemates accidentally tripped over them, their faces hitting the floor with a smash. Rina smiled.

The two of them swore, and Rina hid a laugh behind her hand as Damon flung an arm out to grab onto someone. That someone happened to be Severus Snape, who was dragged down onto the ground in Damon's attempt to heft himself up.

A few galleons rolled out of Julius' hand in surprise and Rina strode over and picked them up. Triumphantly, she put them into one of the pockets of her robes.

She walked away without a sound and grinned successfully. No one had seen her, like always.

Or so she thought.

* * *

Sirius, to put it simply, was confused.

Karissa was nowhere to be found. During dinner, the evening of the Sorting, he had crawled around and examined every single girl in the Great Hall. None of them were her. Maybe she was sick? Absent for some unknown reason?

Then, there was Rina. She was interesting, he decided. She seemed so shy and quiet. Well that, or it seemed like she hated the world and everyone in it. But he settled for shy and quiet instead.

He realized that the only reason no one noticed her was because no one actually knew her. If he hadn't remembered her tangled hair and weird glasses, he wouldn't have seen her. He would've looked right passed her, as if she were a ghost. It was odd, the way things were with human beings. You only see what you want to see.

But then he saw Rina take her wand out and nonverbally put a jelly-legs jinx on two Slytherins. Then Snape ended up getting tangled up in the mess too…his face smashed right into the floor, and Sirius laughed his heart out. Snivellus' hooked nose was going to be even more crooked than before. And he was determined to point that out to him next time he saw him.

So there was Sirius Orion Black, laying down on his bed, looking up at the ceiling above him as he tried to fall asleep.

But who would've known that two girls would be keeping him awake? And not in that way, you pervert.

Okay, now Rina and Karissa weren't the only two things keeping him awake because now he was thinking of two attractive girls. In bed with him. Lights out, clothes off—

Sirius gave himself a shake. Jeez, he needed to see a therapist or something. He wasn't going to stay a horny teenage boy forever, would he?

He sighed, and the scene of Rina grinning triumphantly over at the two fallen Slytherins was replaying in his mind again. She looked kind of pretty when she was smiling, actually. A lot happier. Her "I hate the world" vibe was gone.

Oh Merlin, he was getting sappy again. _Don't go sappy, Sirius!_ he shouted to himself in his mind. _Once you go sappy, you never go…._ He mentally cursed when he realize that no rhyming word would make sense. You never go lackey, you never go mappy…Mappy, what the hell's a mappy?

Sirius groaned and flipped onto his stomach.

The curtain that surrounded his four-posted bed was pulled to the side, and Remus stood over Sirius, worry written on his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked him.

Sirius shot him a confused look. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You been muttering to yourself," Remus replied. "And I think you're trying to rhyme words with sappy." He gave a small smile, and then added, "And, just so you know, 'once you go sappy, you never go back to being straight' doesn't rhyme."

Sirius gave a heavy exhale and mumbled, "Shut up," into his pillow.

"Well, I know I'm not as close of a friend to you as James is, but I can tell when something's troubling you," Remus stated, after a minute of silence. "If you don't mind me asking, what's got you acting like an angsty twelve year old?"

Black let out a muffled laugh. "Prongsie said the same thing, except he added the word girl."

Remus just smiled. "So, what is it then, you angsty twelve year old girl? Did you finally get your period? Are you having cramps?"

Sirius through an extra pillow at Remus, who caught it easily. "No, sir Moony, it's women."

"What? Finally realized that you don't like them as much as you like guys?"

"Shut up, I'm not gay!"

Remus laughed as he ducked away from Sirius' pillows. "Never thought you'd have a problem with women, Sirius," Remus told him. After some thought, he corrected himself. "No, you do have a problem with women. But to the point where you're muttering to yourself at two in the morning and trying to rhyme words is kind of worrying."

"Moony, you're a nice person," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Have you ever known a girl named Karissa? Or have you ever talked to a girl named Rina?"

Remus blinked. "Karissa, as in the Karissa from Holyhead Harpies, the Quidditch team?"

"Why does everyone say that?"

"Well, no, I don't know any other Karissa other than that," Remus responded. "I think I've talked to Rina once, but she kinda gave off this 'I hate the world vibe'—"

"I knew I wasn't the only one who thought that!" Sirius interrupted.

"—but I _have_ talked to her sister," he went on.

Sirius sat up, and stared at his friend. "Sister? Rina's sister? Rina _has_ a sister?"

"Yeah, in Hufflepuff," Remus continued, looking at Sirius as if he had just sprouted wings. "Kaylie and Karina. They're twins."

"Karina? So Rina is just a nickname?" When Remus nodded, Sirius said, "Oh."

"And actually, now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure they have an older sister," Remus told him with a bit of thought. "No…wait a second…"

"What? What is it?" Sirius asked curiously. He looked like a puppy waiting for treat.

"Well, I'm not sure if it's the same girl, but…"

Sirius grabbed his friend's shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "Moony. Tell me. What is it?"

"I don't know this for sure, but…"

"BLOODY MERLIN, JUST TELL ME!" Sirius shouted and Remus backed away quickly.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I think Karina and Kaylie's older sister is named Karissa."

Sirius leaned back against the wall. "Well…." He didn't know what else to say. Remus was slowly backing away, afraid that Sirius would leap up and lash out at him in a moment of unexpected rage.

But what surprised Sirius the most was what came out of his mouth next. It wasn't, "I can see Karissa again!" but instead, the words "Why would Rina lie to me?" escaped from his mouth.

* * *

**A/N: DUN. DUN. DUUUUUNNNN.**

**Yeah, so um. Yep. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Alright. We—that—I-um. Well, yeah. That just happened.**

**Reviews please? :D They make me super-duper-uber happy. :D So please leave your thoughts on this chapter in a review!**

**Update on FRIDAY!**

**-kris**

**Preview of Chapter Seven:**

"_Ugh," she moaned, disgusted. "I haven't had that much exercise in…well, _ever_."_

_x-x-x_

"_I bet you're only grumpy because you can't get laid, Slughorn."_

_x-x-x_

_But then she felt someone's lips covering hers and her mind went wild._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven:**

Karina (aka "Rina") had no idea what to do, as she raced down the halls of Hogwarts, gathering a lot more attention than she wanted. But it's not like she could've walked, with Sirius chasing her all around the castle.

She took a quick turn to the left and ended up slipping, hitting her head off an unexpected pillar. Her head already hurt before the impact, and now it was throbbing nonstop, as if a Cornish pixie was stuck in her skull.

Karina heard the quick thump of feet closing in on her, so she darted into an empty classroom and then climbed out the window on the opposite side. Then she tore around a corner as fast as her legs could take her and finally, _finally_ she stopped, settling for a broom closet as her hiding spot.

Her cheeks burned with embarrassment as she remembered the odd stares that the other students were giving her. Oh Merlin…how humiliating! If only she could've just stopped and explained, so they wouldn't get the wrong idea.

She wondered what kind of things the other students at Hogwarts were thinking of. After all, Sirius bloody-freaking Black had just been chasing after her yelling something about foot cream.

"Damn you, Black," Rina whispered, as she lowered herself carefully into a sitting position. The closet was cramped, and she had her knees tucked against her chest. "I don't even understand what's going on!"

Karina wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, sweat flinging off to the side. "Ugh," she moaned, disgusted. "I haven't had that much exercise in….well, _ever_."

Her long-sleeved robes were sticking uncomfortably to her skin, so she took them off. That left her in a skirt and a black tank-top. Lastly, after becoming somewhat comfortable, she tried to think.

_What the hell does Sirius Black want from me?_

It all started just a few days ago…

* * *

_-Breakfast—_

Sirius had made it his top priority to search for Rina the first thing in the morning, when they entered the Great Hall.

But he also completely forgot about the fact that there were fangirls who hadn't seen him all summer, waiting for him in the Great Hall. He honestly hadn't expected there to be girls flinging themselves left and right at him.

"Oh, yeah I missed you too," he weakly told a sixth year Ravenclaw who was hanging off his arm. "And you too, of course." He winked at the Hufflepuff on his other arm, making her swoon. In his head, he was thinking, _I don't even remember these people!_

A daring Gryffindor (she wasn't put in that house for nothing) strode over to him, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and snogged him then and there in way of greeting.

"Mmm, yeah, you taste like peanut butter," Sirius murmured. The sixth year, who he knew as Clara McNaughton, looked surprised, and then embarrassed. She scrambled away.

"Ladies, ladies, please!" Sirius exclaimed, trying to push his fangirls away. "There is plenty of Sirius to go around—Oof, no don't touch me there." He not-so-gently shoved a fifth year away from him. _Rina_, he reminded himself. "There's not _that_ much Sirius to go around."

Practically flinging the rest of the girls off of him, he finally made it to the Gryffindor table, and sat in between Remus and James. He checked behind him wearily, just in case some insane girl decided to yank him out of his seat.

"Where's Rina?" were the first words that left his mouth.

James stopped mid-chew, his cheeks bulging like a chipmunk. He stared at Sirius, then looked down at the plate of bacon in front of him. He pointed at the bacon.

Sirius' mind was in conflict. _Rina or bacon?_ Sad to say that that wasn't the first time he's had a dilemma like that.

He gave himself a shake. "I really need to find Rina," he told James, who held up a finger as he swallowed whatever was in his mouth. Then he took a giant forkful of scrambled eggs and continued chewing.

"If you were going to answer, you probably shouldn't have taken another bite," Remus reminded him. He was buttering a slice of toast with careful movements. "And Pads, I don't think she's here. I haven't seen her."

Sirius gave him a look. "We haven't seen her in six years. I say, she's pretty good at hiding—oh, I see her!"

There—right at the end of the Ravenclaw table, barely squeezing into the corner. Groups of housemates were around her, but none of them looked at her. It was like none of them even realized she was there.

That's why Rina was so shocked when Sirius walked right over to her and tapped her on the shoulder from behind.

Maybe "shocked" was an understatement. She shrieked in surprise and slid down off of the bench.

"Oh…sorry, didn't know you would be so jittery," Sirius told her. His voice sounded light, humorous even.

Rina tried to stand up, but her head hit the top of the Ravenclaw table with a loud bump. Sirius hissed, and she could imagine his wincing face. "That didn't sound too good," he commented.

Clutching the left-side of her head with a hand, Rina slowly stood up from under the table, looking up at the seventh year Gryffindor with eyes of disbelief.

"So, Rina," he went on. "I need to ask you something. When you—"

She cut his sentence off short. "Why are you talking to me?"

Sirius looked a bit taken aback, and Rina immediately regretted her words. They sounded blunt and harsh, but she didn't mean to come off that way.

"Well, it's just that—"

Before he could finish what he was saying, Rina became aware of everyone in the Great Hall looking at her. _Everyone_. She didn't realize that simply talking to Sirius Black would gather so much attention.

Whispers of, "Who's that girl?" and "Why is Sirius talking to her?" and "What's with her hair? And those glasses?" and one random guy saying, "Whoa, why is Buford over here?"

Rina then realized that it was Sirius who had asked about Buford. She watched in confusion as he bent over and picked up a container of foot cream off the floor. He examined it, shrugged, and then put it in the pocket of his robes.

What in the actual hell?

"Anyway, Rina—"

But Karina had already left, fleeing the Great Hall. She couldn't take so many stares at once. So she ran away, while Sirius was distracted by foot cream of all things.

* * *

_-Potions—_

Karina was the first person in the classroom as always. She sat in the very back of the room, where it was dark and dusty. No one really looked at the back of the room, and she was fine with that. She liked to read her books during classes, and she liked to do it in peace.

Then she remembered that in classes, two houses came together.

She remembered that Ravenclaw, her house, was one of them and that Gryffindor was the other.

And finally, she remembered that Sirius Black was a Gryffindor.

She swore as she ducked under her desk, just as the Marauders walked in through the door.

Rina watched as Sirius walked over to one of her fellow Ravenclaw housemates and asked, "Have you seen girl named Karina?"

Karina? He knew her full name? Rina thought back to the time they had talked. She introduced herself as Rina, hadn't she? So how did she know her full name? No one else had noticed her all these years, right?

The person that Sirius asked simply shook his head, saying, "Who's that?"

Sirius tried to describe her. "Round glasses, brown hair, poor fashion sense, about this tall…" He held a hand up at around his chest and Rina scoffed, muttering, "I am _not_ that short," under her breath.

"Does she kind of look like a troll?" the Ravenclaw asked.

"She does not!" Sirius exclaimed immediately, just as Rina yelled, "I do not!" and accidentally rammed her head into the underside of the desk as she tried to jump to her feet. She let out a string of curses as she sunk back to the floor, cradling her head for the second time that day.

"There you are!" he exclaimed, quickly walking over to her.

Thankfully, Professor Slughorn saved her. "Black, your seat is in the front of the classroom, I believe," he stated.

"Yes, I know sir, but-"

"So go to the front."

"But Professor-"

"Mr. Black, to your seat." Slughorn looked particularly pissed off that day, and he glared Sirius down into submission.

Black dragged himself over to his desk, muttering something like, "I bet you're only grumpy because you can't get laid, Slughorn. Yeah…horny slug, that sounds about right."

Rina let out a breath of relief.

* * *

-_Herbology—_

Rina never thought that she'd rather be in a class with Slytherins than with Gryffindors, but today happened to be an exception.

No Sirius Black to bother her in that class, she thought to herself. No unwanted attention, no one asking if she looked like trolls, no one getting distracted over—

"Buford!"

Karina let out a squeal of surprise and terror as she felt someone shove their hands into her robes from behind. She whipped around and saw Sirius there, holding a container of foot cream in one hand.

"I don't know how he got in your robes," he said, examining the container curiously. "Weird."

"Why-how—what-What are you doing here?" Rina exclaimed. She felt a headache coming on, and she couldn't tell if it was from banging her head on tables and desks or because Sirius kept bothering her. "This isn't even your class!" She skipped over her questions about why he had named a container of foot cream Buford and why it was in the pocket of her robes, and simply waited for an answer.

"Yeah, well, I really had to talk to you and I couldn't wait until lunch," he told her. "Now, Rina—"

He got cut off, once again, as a tall Ravenclaw shouldered passed him with a giant pot of what looked like a fully-grown mandrake.

"Hey, watch it!" Sirius told him.

The Ravenclaw turned around and then, oh-so-conveniently, tripped over his own feet, the gigantic pot falling from his hands….

…and onto Rina's head.

For the third time that day, she crumpled to the ground, her head banging in pain. But this time, she didn't get back up.

* * *

Rina recognized the soft feel of the bed in the Hospital Wing, and then tried to remember why she was there. She was in Herbology class, and then Sirius was there with his foot cream and then….and then that Ravenclaw Max Thompson…

Yes, that's right… A bloody freaking gigantic _plant pot smashed into her head._ That was why she was in the Hospital Wing.

She was conscious, but her eyelids felt way too heavy to open. Not to mention the insane aching of her head. All she wanted to do was fall asleep again, maybe get a few more hours of rest.

"She'll be okay, right?" asked a voice by her side. It was low and masculine and annoyingly familiar…

What was Sirius doing, sitting at her bedside while she was in the Hospital Wing?

"She'll be fine, Mr. Black!" Madam Pomfrey sounded exasperated, and Rina guessed that that wasn't the first time Sirius had asked her that question. "Now go to lunch. All this young lady needs is a few more hours of rest, and she'll be let out of the Hospital Wing."

"But she's not awake yet." There was something in Sirius' voice…was he honestly worried about her?

"She _will_ be," Pomfrey stated. A silence came after her words. Then she said, "Well, it's my lunch break right now. If you want to stay and wait for her to wake up, then do so. Just…" She sighed. "Just don't explode anything, break anything, drink anything suspicious looking, and take any of your clothes off and no — _absolutely_ _no_— snogging other patients, if any more happen to come in."

"Poppy!" Sirius exclaimed, with a light-sounding voice. "I would never!"

"Need I mention what happened last year?"

"In my defense, that student came onto _me_-"

"And the other time?"

"Okay, I honestly did not know that butterbeer had that effect on toads. I swear."

Rina could imagine the nurse shaking her head disapprovingly. "Whatever you say, Black. Stay if you'd like, and call me if there's any trouble."

Karina heard Madam Pomfrey pull the curtains over the bed she was in, and she swore in her mind. _I don't want to be left in a place with Sirius where other people can't see us!_

After a little while, silence had fallen in the Hospital Wing. Rina couldn't hear anyone else breathing other than herself and Sirius, so there probably wasn't anyone else in there. And then Madam Pomfrey was in her office, eating her lunch…They were completely alone with each other.

She really didn't want to face Sirius at the moment, with her head throbbing in pain. So she kept her eyes closed, pretending to fall asleep, _trying_ to fall asleep.

"You're so clumsy," Sirius told her. She could imagine him giving her a teasing grin behind her closed eyelids. "How many times have you hit your head today? Three times?"

Rina figured that he just felt like talking to her sleeping self and wasn't expecting a response, so she didn't bother to answer.

"I hope you can remember what happened after that Ravenclaw dropped a pot over your head," he went on. He sounded amused. "It was super heroic, on my part. I caught you as you fell and then carried you bridal style to the Hospital Wing. I swear, everyone I passed nearly fainted because of my sexy hero move that I pulled."

She didn't know whether to be entertained but his words, or call him a narcissistic moron.

Sirius stretched and then said, "I can't believe I'm missing lunch to watch over you. You better be grateful."

_You didn't have to miss lunch, _Rina thought_. You could've left, if you wanted to._

Suddenly, she felt his fingers brush her forehead and her hair moved to the side, out of her face.

"Karina," he stated. "What a nice name. I wonder why you said you didn't know anyone named Karissa. She's you sister, isn't she?" He gave an unexpected laugh. "Merlin, why am I even talking to you? You're not even awake. And now that I think about it…why are you still wearing your glasses even though you're sleeping?"'

Rina felt the warmth of his hands on his face again as he gently pulled her glasses off and set them on the bedside table.

"Now that I think about it," he spoke, "I've never really seen you up close before. Your hair and glasses were always in the way of your face. Now that I look at you…Merlin, you're actually pretty!"

_Actually pretty._ He sounded surprised, and Rina didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.

"I wonder what colour your eyes are," Sirius babbled on. "Blue, like Karissa's, then? Why am I still looking for Karissa, anyway? It was all because of that bet Prongs made…"

Bet? What bet?

There was a moment of silence, and for a second, Rina thought he had left or maybe even fallen asleep.

But then she felt someone's lips covering hers and her mind went wild.

Sirius was kissing her. _Kissing her._ While she was asleep. He…kissed…What, why, how….

_WHAT?_

Karina's mind went into a frenzy of panicky questions, but she forced herself to not suddenly spring up and run away. But unfortunately, she couldn't stop her eyes from snapping open in surprise.

"Ah," Sirius said, pulling away. "You're awake. Good afternoon, Karina."

She then proceeded to fall off the bed and run away from the Hospital Wing, as fast and as far as she could go.

A few minutes later, she could hear the heavy thuds of Sirius' footsteps as he ran after her and she quickly made her way through the castle, wondering what the hell she should do now.

* * *

_-Back in the broom closet from the beginning of the chapter-_

"What is with my day today?" Rina asked herself angrily, hugging her knees close to her chest. The broom closet was packed with…well, _brooms_, and she didn't want any of them to fall. "Max drops a pot on me, Sirius all of a sudden knows my actual name and that Karissa is my sister, he made some kind of bet with 'Prongs' who I'm pretty sure is James and then he…he…"

_He kissed me._

She scowled and wrapped her mess of robes on the floor into a ball, so they would take up less room. She felt someone hard in pocket of robes and took the object out, puzzled.

"Honestly, how the bloody hell does his foot cream keep getting into my robes?!"

* * *

**A/N: DUNDUNDUNNN.**

**So yeah…..Was it alright? Hope so! Please leave a review, it would mean a lot to me! Thank you so much for reading! You're all SUPER GLORIOUS!**

**I'll update on FRIDAY!**

**-kris**

**Preview of Chapter Eight:**

_Rina gave herself a shake. "Keep it together. No matter what, you are _not_ going to start to fancy Sirius Black._

_x-x-x_

"_Well, for one thing," he stated, letting go of her hand. She let her arm flop back to her side. "You fight like a man."_

_x-x-x_

_The boys were both panting, Sirius' lip was swollen, and James was straddling him in what Rina thought was a very provocative position. He was, she felt the need to add, also pinning Sirius to the ground with his hands. Rina gaped at them wordlessly._


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So it's currently 4:50am. **

**That's right.**

_**In the morning.**_

**I'm going to Niagara Falls for a trip with a bunch of friends all day, so here I am, posting this at **

_**4:50 IN THE MORNING.**_

**-I'm definitely not a morning person. **

**Anyway, here you go!**

**Chapter Eight:**

Remus Lupin was doing some extra research for his Hebology project in the library like the good student he was, when he saw something he had never seen before.

He walked passed a wooden table in the corner of the library and then double-backed when one of his friends caught his eye.

"_Sirius?_"

The shaggy-haired teen raised his head from the book he was reading to look up at the questioning werewolf. "Oh. Hullo Moony."

Remus blinked. "Do you know where you are right now?"

Sirius stared at him blankly, and then cast a quick glance around the room. "The library?" he answered, uncertainly.

Remus didn't understand. Sirius was never in the library, unless he was snogging a girl there. But here he was—_reading a book_.

"Yes…you're in the library," Remus agreed with him slowly. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because you're Sirius."

Sirius closed the book he was holding (which had a weird picture of a barfing toad on the cover) and pushed it away from him with a sigh. He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms over his head. Remus noticed that he looked a bit flustered, as if he didn't know what he was doing. _Girl trouble_, he guessed.

"Any particular reason you're here, Pads?" Remus asked him, sliding into the seat across from him. "I thought you weren't even allowed here because Madam Pince kicked you out in fifth year."

"Okay, I swear, I had no idea that feeding the talking book a few spoons-"

"Cups," interjected Remus.

"—of sugar would get it all excited," Sirius finished. "I also had no idea that that pack of filibusters fireworks were in my bag. Those were _not_ supposed to go off in the library." He began to grin at the memory. "That was a fun day."

"You set the library on _fire_."

"No one got hurt," Sirius countered.

"Madam Pince's hair was in _flames_."

"She needed a new hair-do."

Remus sighed, but was smiling nonetheless. "How did you even get in here? Madam Pince has been watching out for you for a while now."

"Snuck in," he replied simply.

Remus was a little worried about how exactly he had "snuck in", so he didn't bother to ask.

They were silent for a moment, when Sirius finally spoke up. "Have you seen Karina?"

"Not since yesterday morning in Potions," Remus responded. "Actually…" His face contorted into a look of confusion. "Didn't we have D.A.D.A. with the Ravenclaws last period? I don't remember seeing her."

Sirius scowled and ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it up. "I knew it. She's avoiding me!"

The werewolf raised his eyebrows. "And why would she be avoiding you?"

"No idea," Sirius said. "Maybe she couldn't handle my extreme sexiness and has to stay away for a while."

Remus searched his friend's face and realized that he looked kind of anxious. "Padfoot…what did you do to her?"

"Who says I did anything?" His response was rushed and defensive.

"_Sirius_."

"I kissed her, okay?" Sirius scowled again. "But Merlin, she's taking it way too seriously."

Remus shook his head at his friend, his mop of sandy brown hair getting in the way of his eyes. "Godric, Sirius. You must've freaked her out. Did you just randomly force a kiss on her in the middle of hallway or something?"

"She was unconscious."

Remus gave him an incredulous look. "She was _unconscious_? Well, of course she'd be avoiding you now! That's just creepy! How would you like it if you were unconscious and you woke up to some girl snogging you in your sleep?"

"That'd be a bit creepy," Sirius admitted reluctantly. "Unless she was hot, because then I would-"

"Sirius, back to the point."

"But I'm not some random guy," Sirius defended himself. "She knows me. Plus, I'm attractive. Shouldn't she be happy?"

"You're an idiot."

"I've been told."

Remus saw Sirius' troubled and frustrated look and became even more confused than he was before. Since when did Sirius get so flustered over a girl? James had told him about Karissa, but now it was this Karina girl. _Two_ girls managed to get Sirius tied around their fingers. How was that even possible?

He got up and clamped his hand down on Sirius' shoulder. "You're going to apologize to her at dinner, and then have a proper talk with her about Karissa, okay?"

"You don't think I've tried that already? She's been avoiding me, Moony!"

Remus shot Sirius a look. "When has that ever stopped you?"

Slowly, Sirius Black began to grin.

* * *

Rina wanted to hit herself. What the hell was she doing? Was she seriously going to run away from Sirius Black for the rest of the school year?

But then again, what else could she do? She sure as hell wasn't going to bloody confront the man. It was awkward being with him before he kissed her in her sleep. Now it was just downright uncomfortable to the point where even thinking of him made her squirm. At first, she just felt angry at him for kissing her. Annoyed that he just simply kissed her without permission of any kind. Then, to her own horror, after thinking about it too much, she would start to blush and become all fuzzy inside without meaning to.

Rina gave herself a shake. "Keep it together. No matter what, you are _not_ going to start to fancy Sirius Black."

She was worried that the more she saw him and interacted with him, the more involved she would be. And then, when they part ways, she'll just be heartbroken. She didn't want that. So she wasn't going to get involved with him from the very start, that's what she promised herself.

But damn, it was sure hard avoiding him when he was so persistent in finding her.

Her stomach grumbled and she checked her watch, realizing that she was late for dinner.

Rina scowled. Dinner was in the Great Hall. All the students were in the Great Hall. She figured that Sirius wasn't an exception for that.

Her stomach grumbled again. No way was she going to skip dinner.

Kitchens, then. She could always go to the kitchens. But sometimes the Marauders would go there to hang out, right?

"Alright," Rina whispered to herself. "Reconnaissance mission is in action." Then she scowled, mentally slapping herself. "I've been playing way too many muggle video games."

She quietly—as always—made her way to the Great Hall and peaked her head through the already open doorway. Her eyes skimmed the room. It looked like most of the students were there already. Lots of Gryffindors…but not all of the Gryffindors.

Karina gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank Merlin, he's not there."

A hand clamped down on her shoulder and Rina felt her blood freeze in her veins. Her heart hammered in her chest, as a deep feeling of dread crawled its way up her spine. Slowly, she turned her head to look over her shoulder at the person standing behind her.

"Who's not there?"

Rina's throat constricted and she involuntarily sucked in a gasp when she turned to face the one and only Sirius Black. They were unnecessarily close, and she felt a great need to back away, but the hand that was on her shoulder prevented her from doing that.

"Karina?" he asked, looking worried. But behind the worry in his eyes, a flicker of amusement shone through. The corners of his lips twitched slightly upwards, as he tried not to smile.

His lips. Rina felt herself going red, her cheeks warming up. _Oh God, Merlin, Godric, someone help me!_

Without another word, and only the faintest of smiles, Sirius pushed her along with him into the Great Hall. The hand that was on her shoulder snuck its way down to hold her at the waist.

Rina's mind went insane. Hundreds of questions and thoughts cluttered her brain, but at the same time, it was practically blank. She couldn't think clearly. What was he doing?

She could feel the stares of everyone around her, as they watched Sirius walk in with a girl they had never seen with him.

Karina was never seen. Never noticed. And now—

"Sirius, can you-" she began, trying to pull herself away from him in the least rude manner she could.

"Can you what?" he interrupted her. He was grinning, and Rina felt her heart skip a beat as she once again remembered that he had kissed her only yesterday. He leaned in towards her, his lips at her ear. His breath tickled the side of her face. "Kiss you again, like I did yesterday?"

Rina felt like she was in a sauna, as her face warmed up. She looked flustered, and opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again, not knowing what words to let out. This seemed to be the reaction Sirius wanted, because he just smiled at her with an amused look on his face.

Oh Merlin, his _smile_.

She wanted to hit herself. _You're not going to start fancying Sirius Black._

"I'd really love it if you didn't mention that again," Rina muttered.

"Oh, but it doesn't really matter, now does it?" Sirius asked, as he tipped his head back to survey the crowd of people that were staring over at them. Rina wanted to run away from all of the unwanted attention, but his arm that was wound around her waist was pulling her towards him, not letting go.

"Why wouldn't it matter?" Rina demanded. She didn't dare look up at him—she was probably still blushing.

"Well, no one knows who are, yes?" Sirius went on. "But that can change in a heartbeat, you know? Maybe I should just yell out…" He trailed off.

Rina's head flicked up to look at the boy beside her, as he sucked in a deep breath. Then, to her utmost horror, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "HEY, HOGWARTS! GUESS WHO THE MOST RECENT GIRL I KISSED WAS? IT'S THIS ABSOLUTELY GLORIOUS GIRL NAMED KA-"

She didn't know what possessed her to do it, but she did. Rina had promised herself not to bother anyone too much at school, never to get too much attention on herself. She told herself she wouldn't get in trouble, and would just live a regular, quiet, last year at Hogwarts.

But all of those expectations went crashing down when Karina shot out her leg, fast and hard, kicking Sirius backwards, who responded with a surprised "oomph!"

"_Shut it!_" she exclaimed at him, as she punched him in the shoulder. Her face was aflame with embarrassment, and she reeled her fist back to punch him again, when he unexpectedly slipped to the side, and caught her arm with his hand.

"There you are," he told her with a satisfied smile. "There's the Karissa I saw, back then at your house."

Karina stared at him. Without being able to help herself, her mouth dropped open in surprise. "What?"

"Well, for one thing," he stated, letting go of her hand. She let her arm flop back to her side. "You fight like a man."

Karina's embarrassment, alongside with anger, flared up again.

* * *

"This is, what, the second time this has happened?" James asked Sirius, who was currently sitting on one of the beds in the hospital.

Sirius, who had just gotten his swollen eye fixed up by Madam Pomfrey, was smiling. James had expected him to glare at him, like he usually did. But that didn't seem to be the case. _Maybe he got a little crazy after getting his brains bashed by Rina, _James thought.

"No, the third time," Sirius responded.

"Wow," James commented. "You got beat up by a girl _three_ different times."

"I didn't get "beat up" Prongs," he said. He tried to scowl, but his grin just wouldn't leave his face. "I let her do that. You know, so she'd feel...cool?"

"You're just saying that because your ashamed of being beat up by a girl again."

"I told you, she fights like a man!" Again, he tried to frown, but his smile just wouldn't back down.

"At least you didn't cry this time," James mentioned.

Sirius glared at him. "What do you mean, this time? There were no other times!" He tried to keep his glare steady, but his eyes began to shine through and he started to beam again.

James stared at him. "Are you okay? You've been grinning like a madman this whole time."

"I don't know," Sirius admitted. "I just feel…pleased, I suppose. I finally got Karina to talk to me again."

James wanted to mention that if by "talking to him again" included getting smashed in the face with a plate, but he decided to stay quiet on that part. Instead, he asked, "Do you feel all tingly inside?"

"Yes."

"Like your stomach is full of butterflies?"

"Yeah."

"And your heart is skipping beats, and thumps really fast?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Sirius blinked at his friend innocently.

James bit back a laugh. "Oh, nothing. I was just guessing." _Merlin, he's an idiot._

Sirius didn't know what his best mate was on about, but he was in too good of a mood to worry about it.

"So, about Karina," James went on casually. "You never actually got a proper chat with her, did you?"

Black recalled the events that had unfolded earlier, and deducted that no, they had not, in fact, had a proper chat. Unless, of course, a proper chat meant Rina spraying water into his face with her wand. He deducted that it didn't.

"I need to talk to her," he announced, jumping up from the bed.

James hurriedly put his hands on his shoulders, pushing him back down.

"Not now, Padfoot!" he told him. "Madam Pomfrey said you shouldn't move around too much yet—Rina apparently did a number on the side of your head. Pomfrey's worried the swelling might start up again."

Sirius struggled against James' grip. "But it's important!"

They began to wrestle, Sirius trying to go all out with a throbbing head and a bruised leg, and James trying to be as gentle as possible, as to not worsen Sirius' injuries.

Sirius somehow manage to throw James from one side of the bed to the other, and James dragged him along. The two boys rolled around on the floor, cursing and yelping. Sirius shot out a well-aimed punch to the other teenager's ribs. James grunted, and used his legs to grapple Sirius back around.

Finally, after a few more minutes of rough-housing, James ended up in control. His hands pinned Sirius' shoulder against the tiled floor of the Hospital Wing, and he sat on his stomach, trying to keep the other boy down.

There was a swishing sound, as the curtains that had surrounded the corner that contained the bed and bedside table that Sirius was staying in were pulled back, revealing a messy-haired, bespectacled and very surprised Ravenclaw girl. _Rina_.

James and Sirius were just wrestling, they knew that. Unfortunately, Karina didn't.

The boys were both panting, Sirius' lip was swollen, and James was straddling him in what Rina thought was a very provocative position. He was, she felt the need to add, also pinning Sirius to the ground with his hands. Rina gaped at them wordlessly.

Silently, she flung the curtain back to where it was. Sirius could hear her soft footsteps as they hurriedly exited the Hospital Wing.

James looked down at their position just as Sirius began to realize what Rina must've thought.

"Oh, _Godric_!" they both exclaimed, scurrying away from each other.

Sirius quickly got up, dusted off his pants, and then ran out of the Hospital Wing after Karina, for the second time that week.

"Rina!" he shouted after her, seeing that she had started walking again at the end of the corridor. At the sight of him, she paused. "Rina, I'm not gay!"

Sirius finally caught up to her. He doubled over, his hands on his knees, as he tried to catch his breath.

"I like…boobs and women," he coughed out, still trying to heave air into his lungs.

To his surprise, she began to laugh. A beautiful, melodic laugh, that brightened her eyes. Her blue eyes. She continued to giggle, and Sirius recognized it immediately. How had he not realized this before?

He straightened up, and looked at her—_really_ looked at her, for the first time.

Once her laughter had died down, Sirius finally spoke.

"Really now…who are you?"

* * *

**A/N: TA-DAAH! **

**I hope you liked this chapter! Please leave a review, because that's what mostly keeps me going! I mean, come on guys-the number of reviews I've been getting has dropped. :( Is something wrong? Please tell me what you think!**

**There's going to be an update next Friday, so be sure to check it out, please!**

**-kris**

**Preview for Chapter Nine:**

"_It's not called manly wrestling if you attack each other out of lust."_

_x-x-x_

_She took a deep breath, and uttered the words, "Sirius, I'm in love with you."_

_x-x-x_

"_Why would I name a bottle of foot cream 'Buford'?" Sirius asked her._

"_Because you're insane!" she responded._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine:**

Karina stared at Sirius silently, as he finally managed to straighten himself up and catch his breath.

"You're bleeding," she pointed out.

Sirius scowled. "You're avoiding the question."

"And you're bleeding," she repeated, eyeing his wound wearily. "I think you got a little too excited with Potter back there."

"We were wrestling! Like men! Manly wrestling!" he exclaimed defensively.

"It's not called manly wrestling when you attack each other out of lust."

"It wasn't-!" Sirius' sentence was cut off short, as Rina started to laugh again.

"I'm joking, Sirius," she stated, rolling her eyes.

The Gryffindor tried to make himself look serious, but his happiness and joy couldn't help but show through his features. Nonetheless, he still attempted to make himself look intimidating. Manly, even.

"Rina, I think it's about time you tell me who you really are," he demanded.

She blinked up at him innocently. "You know who I am. You just said my name."

"But you're that girl I barged in on at midnight on summer vacation, aren't you?" he asked, searching her face for any sign that she remembered that night. "You were in your knick-"

In a rush of panic, Rina lunged forward and clamped her hand over Sirius' mouth, shutting him up.

"Really?" she hissed at him, under her breath. She gave a scan around her surroundings, making sure no passersby heard what Sirius was in the middle of saying. "You're going to say that _now_? Where there are so many other people around?"

"Aha!" Sirius exclaimed triumphantly, a smile bursting out onto his face. "You _are_ that girl! I knew it! Why didn't you just tell me that?"

"Sirius-"

"I mean, you changed your name and everything!"

"The blood…"

"And you have a sister named Karissa? Why did you pretend you were her?"

"You're bleeding."

"You could've just been straight with me, you know? You didn't have to-"

"There is honestly a lot of blood on your head right now." She was starting to get worried.

"—I would've liked you whether you were Karissa or Karina, so what was the point in lying to me?" he asked. But it didn't look like he was waiting for an answer.

"Sirius, your head is practically _dripping_ with blood! Merlin, that's kind of gross."

"And when we sat together on the train ride—you could've told me the truth there!" he blabbered on.

"I'm secretly a yak."

"And I wouldn't have been so confused this entire time!"

He wasn't listening to her at all. He just kept talking and talking and talking. She figured that he just wanted to get all of his thoughts out of his head. Rina scowled, and looked up at the bandage that was wrapped around his forehead from the plate that she not-so-gently smashed into his head earlier that day. She felt extremely guilty, and now that the blood was starting to soak through the bandages, she felt even worse.

"Sirius, you're bleeding!" she said in a louder voice. She was practically shouting already. "A lot!"

"And how come you look so much more different here than when you were at home?"

Rina scowled again and muttered, "You're an idiot."

"I bet if you dressed like you did at home here, there would be so many guys who fancy you, and-"

She didn't know what to do. Rina didn't want to grab him—she was afraid to accidently touch one of his wounds and hurt him even more. She already tried yelling. That left one more idea in her mind—the element of surprise.

She took a deep breath, and uttered the words, "Sirius, I'm in love with you."

Finally, he stopped speaking and stared at her. His grey eyes were wide and bright and his mouth dropped open in shock. He looked speechless, and Rina couldn't understand what was so weird about her saying it, when so many other girls had probably said it to him before she did. It wasn't _that_ surprising, was it?

Karina swore. "What, so _now_ you stop and listen to me? You're bleeding through your bandages, moron! They need to get changed!" she exclaimed, pointing at his forehead with her index finger.

"You just said-"

"I lied!" Rina snapped, rolling her eyes. "You weren't listening to anything I was saying, so I thought that if I said that, you'd listen." _Though I was really hoping you wouldn't hear me. _

His expression seemed to deflate slightly, his shoulders hunching slightly. "Oh. You didn't mean that then?"

"No!" The word came out a lot harsher than she meant it to.

At last, it Sirius calmed down long enough for Rina to properly talk to him.

"Get your bandages changed, and then come talk to me," she ordered him, gesturing for him to walk back towards the Hospital Wing. Where was Madam Pomfrey, anyway, she wondered?

"But-"

"Sirius Orion Black," she snapped, hands on her small hips. "Drag that stupid arse of yours over to the Hospital Wing and get your injuries checked out again before I drag you there myself."

Sirius looked amused. He smiled slightly, and said, "You'd make a good mother."

"Sirius. Injury. Blood. Bandages. _Now_."

"Nah, I take that back," he said, thoughtfully. "You beat me up all the time. You're too manly to be a proper mother."

Karina shot him an icy glare that literally sent chills down Sirius' spine. "Excuse me?"

"You're too many to be a proper mother," he repeated, grinning. "And you're so violent—you'd probably beat your kids, and that's not a good thing."

Without another word, Karina rolled up the sleeves to her robes. She cracked her knuckles, and Sirius' face paled considerably.

* * *

"Prongs, I think it's about time you stopped laughing," Sirius noted, scowling at his friend.

James was shaking with laughter, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. "Oh my Merlin, _again_! Beat up! On the _same_ day! And you call yourself a "womanizer"? Hah!"

Madam Pomfrey, who finally decided to show up, smacked James over the head with a copy of the Daily Prophet. He made a yelp of surprise, and then looked over hesitantly at Pomfrey's stern face.

"If you're going to make that much ruckus, _get out_!" She punctuated her exclamation with a few more hits to James' head with her newspaper.

James quickly got up from out of his chair and started scurrying out of the Hospital Wing, Pomfrey still whapping him over the head like he was a bug and the Daily Prophet was a flyswatter.

When she came back, she gave the other person at Sirius' bedside a piercing look. "And you, Miss Jenkins, I suspect that you will behave yourself, correct?"

Sirius looked to his left as the girl beside him gave the nurse a reassuring smile. "Of course, Madam Pomfrey."

Pomfrey looked convinced enough, and closed the curtains surrounding his bed and walked off, probably checking out the Slytherin's Quidditch practice, where no-doubt tons of players got hurt.

"This looks like a good time to properly talk," Sirius commented, casually.

Rina fidgeted, looking a bit awkward. "I suppose so."

Even though it was the time to have an actual chat, Sirius couldn't think of what to say first. He settled with, "What's your full name?" first.

She blinked at him blankly. "You know it already."

"Refresh my memory."

"Karina Jenkins," she responded. "Karina Belle Jenkins."

"And the girl that I met over summer vacation? The one who had a room full of posters of puppies, the one that drew all of those amazing pictures?" he questioned.

Karina tucked a stray piece of hair away from her face and behind her ear. "Still me," she said at last. "But I told you my name was Karissa and…well, obviously it's not. Karissa is my sister."

"But why-"

"Lie to you?" Rina gave a short laugh. "You should've seen your face when you first stumbled in through my window. You had no idea where you were, and no idea who I _was_," she went on. "As you can see, at Hogwarts, I'm not exactly what one would call a "social butterfly". But my big sister, Karissa, is. So when I figured that I would never actually talk to you again, I tried to act like my sister."

"So you called yourself Karissa, and nearly threw me out of a window," Sirius deadpanned.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah. Pretty much."

"And right now, and how you acted in the Great Hall—is that really you, or was that you trying to be like your older sister?" he asked.

Karina flushed at the memory. She had gotten a detention for that, with Professor McGonagall. It was to be served at dinner time, and she really didn't want to go. She had never been in trouble before, and therefore never gotten a detention.

"That was all…real me," she responded.

Sirius, to her surprise, started to grin. "You're like your sister anyways, from what you're telling me. Is Karissa that violent as well, then?"

Karina thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Nah, I think I'm the only one out of my two sisters that's violent."

"Oh, I see," he told her. "So why do you dress and look so differently at home from when you're at school?"

Karina swung her legs out from under her chair and then sat criss-crossed on top of it. "Well," she began, thinking about it, "I don't really like a lot of attention. I get embarrassed easily." She tucked back the same strand of hair that somehow had fallen back into her face, behind her ear. "But at home, I feel like I can actually be—me. I feel a lot freer there than I do here."

Sirius stopped asking questions at that point, trying to take all of the information in. He actually had never met Karissa in his life. Whenever he had laid awake at night, tossing and turning in his bed because he couldn't get "Karissa" and "Rina" out of his mind, he was actually only thinking of one girl. Karina. She was the only one that he's been thinking of. The only one he's been messing his mind up over.

_Karina Belle Jenkins._

And now he knew her.

Now that he thought about it, all the times that he was at her house, her mother had never actually used Karina's name in front of him. That's probably why he was so convinced.

"You're Karina Jenkins," he said to her, a smile creeping up into his face. "I feel like I really know who you are now. So, you have two sisters, yeah? Kaylie and Karissa." All of a sudden, his face became confused. "Karissa Jenkins? Why does that sound so familiar…"

Karina smiled at him. "Remember when I introduced myself on the train to Hogwarts? You asked if I knew a girl named Karissa, and I said, 'Yes, Karissa, as in the Karissa in'—"

"Holyhead Harpies, the female Quidditch team," Sirius finished for her. His eyes widened dramatically. "Your _sister_ plays for a professional Quidditch team?" he exclaimed, actually leaping out of his bed and grabbing Karina by the shoulders. "Karissa Jenkins? The famous chaser?"

"Sirius, you're hurting me," Karina noted, looking down at his hands that gripped her shoulders. He recoiled, saying, "Sorry."

Truth be told, Karina wasn't actually getting hurt. Her shoulders were fine. It's just that right when he grabbed her shoulders and exclaimed in excitement, his face was oh-so-very close to hers. If she leaned in, just a few inches, they could've kissed. Again.

The event that had taken place a few days ago, where Sirius had kissed her while she was unconscious came whirling back, and before she knew it, Karina was as red as a tomato.

"Are you okay?" Sirius asked, stopping his rant about Quidditch. "You're all red. Do you have a fever?" he asked, sounding concerned. He reached a hand up to touch her forehead, and Karina jumped up, pushing her chair back abruptly.

The words, "Don't touch me!" left her mouth without thinking.

Karina caught a look of hurt cross Sirius' face. Oh Merlin, why did she say that?

"Sorry," she squeaked, and ripped the curtains aside and flung them back. Then she made her way out of the Hospital Wing without another word.

Sirius lay back in his bed with a sigh. She just explained everything to him, and he understood more or less of it. But now—why did she run away? Now he was confused all over again.

The curtains moved to the side again, and Sirius looked up to see a still-red Karina.

"And you're foot cream," she murmured, avoiding eye contact. She tossed the container over to him. "It keeps getting in my robes."

"Maybe it likes you," Sirius suggested.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "It's foot cream, Sirius."

Sirius gave her a look. "Have you actually ever opened this up?" he asked her.

"No?"

At that, he twisted the lid off the container, revealing something that definitely wasn't foot cream. A super tiny, baby toad sat in the middle of the container. At the sight of them, it croaked weakly.

"You—you put a freaking _toad_ in a foot cream container?" Karina exclaimed incredulously, momentarily forgetting her embarrassment from earlier. "Isn't that…Animal abuse or something?"

Sirius looked at her in horror. "Animal abuse? No way! He was injured, so I was taking care of him."

"But doesn't he…bounce around in there all the time?"

"I put a spell so that gravity doesn't effect him in there," Sirius said. "Unless the lid opens, of course. It's so he can start moving his legs again—I think he hurt one. And I made the sides of it super soft and flexible. It's also bigger on the inside. I'd say he lives quite comfortably in here."

"Ah, so that's why you were running after me yelling 'Buford' that one time," she realized. "I thought you were insane. Or, at least, more insane than you already are."

"Why would I bet insane?" Sirius asked her defensively. "You're the insane one. You ran away with Buford in your pocket."

"You were the one chasing after me, yelling for Buford, which I thought was just a container of foot cream!" Karina retorted.

"Why would I name a bottle of foot cream 'Buford'?" Sirius asked her.

"Because you're insane!" she responded.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment. Then, at the same time, they both started to laugh.

* * *

**A/N: Agh…I sure hope that wasn't too confusing! Please tell me in the reviews if you didn't understand, and I will try my best to explain it to you!**

**Reviews please? Maybe I sound like a needy writer to you, always begging for reviews, but I really want to know what you think about my writing. I'd also love to know about your predictions about what's going to happen next. It gives me ideas while I write. **

**Update on Friday!**

**Preview of Chapter Ten:**

"_You've been Blarked," she responded, her voice sounding amused._

_Karina blinked at her. "Sorry, I've been __what__?"_

_x-x-x_

"_This is quite the provocative position we have here," he commented nonchalantly. "I personally prefer being on top, but I'll make this an exception."_

_x-x-x_

"_Oh Merlin," Peter moaned, looking absolutely horrified. "She's killed him already, hasn't she?"_


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: AGH! I am so sorry! This is the second time I was late in updating :/ Sorry, sorry, sorry! -gets on knees and begs for forgiveness- **

**Well...here's chapter ten, then. :)**

**Chapter Ten: **

Karina didn't what to expect.

She stood just outside the door to her dormitory, not knowing if she wanted to go in or not. She lived there with four other girls, who were all what they liked to refer to each other as "besties for life". Well, three of them anyways. There was another girl who didn't seem to fit in with them as well, and she kept to herself.

Anyway, the problem was, was that it was no doubt that they had probably seen her when Sirius was holding her by the waist in the Great Hall earlier. And then, to top it all of, she and Sirius disappear for a long period of time. They were only in the Hospital Wing of course, but they didn't know that.

Rina didn't talk to them much, but she knew they liked to gossip. They talked behind other people's backs a lot. Sometimes they'd even talk about really bad things. Rina didn't know what they were saying about her behind the very door she was standing in front of, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know in the first place.

But it was already around nine o'clock, and she had to go in there at some point. She wasn't just going to sleep on the couch in the common room. What if someone didn't notice her and ended up thinking she was a weird lump and just sat on her? Sad to say that that wasn't the first time.

Oh, how Max Thompson shrieked when she, the "weird lump", started to talk. She would've laughed, then, if he hadn't stupefied her on reflex before she could even explain herself.

Suddenly, the door opened and one of Rina's housemates stood in front of her.

"Ah," she said, stopping to look Rina up and down, her eyes scanning. "I knew there was something pacing outside the door. And it's _you_."

"Me," Rina responded evenly. She stepped to the side, allowing her housemate (Melody Cartier, was her name) a path to walk through.

It didn't seem like she actually had anywhere to go. She just opened the door for her. With her hands on her hips, Melody stated, "I never actually caught your name."

"Probably because I've never told you," she replied. Rina couldn't understand why she was talking like this. She always gave well thought out answers that usually didn't require any more conversation, or not thinking anything through and being brutally blunt. But here she was, well, _conversing like a normal person_.

Melody raised her eyebrows. "And? Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Well, you're not really asking for my name, now are you?" she retorted. "I think the proper way to learn someone else's name is to simply ask the question, "what's your name?" to avoid a conversation like this."

The other girl flipped a strand of her black hair around her shoulder, and looked at Rina with surprisingly dark brown eyes. They were practically black.

Melody crossed her arms. "Fine, then. What's your name?"

"I also think that the polite way to ask someone who they are is to first introduce yourself," Rina added in, even though she already knew her name.

"Dear Merlin, you're impossible." She threw her arms up in the air in exasperation. "My name is Melody Cartier. What's your name?"

"Karina Jenkins."

Melody stepped back and gestured for her to go inside. Rina did, and the two girls started to get ready for bed. Their other three housemates must still be in the library or in the common room.

Melody slipped into one of her pretty-looking nightgowns as Rina wiggled herself into a pair of cotton pajama shorts (the same ones, she might add, that she had worn when she first met Sirius) and a T-Shirt she had gotten from a Quidditch game, that read "Holyhead Harpies" that was a couple sizes too big. It also had their famous Chaser, Karissa's signature on it. But to Rina, it didn't mean too much. After all, Karissa was her older sister.

Melody Cartier looked Karina up and down again. Then her eyes caught on something, and she began to smile.

"Something funny?" Rina asked her.

"As if you don't already know." Melody was full-out grinning now.

"Actually no, I don't already know." Rina was starting to feel defensive, and crossed her arms. Was it the shirt? "What is it?"

"You've been Blarked," she responded, her voice sounding amused.

Karina blinked at her. "Sorry, I've been _what_?"

"You've been Blarked."

Rina gave the other girl a blank look, and Melody threw her hands up into the air again in annoyance.

"Merlin, where have you been? Do you live under a rock?" she questioned.

Rina looked even more confused. "I live here."

Melody waved a hand dismissively. "Sorry, muggle expression. What I mean to say is, you don't know what being Blarked is?"

Karina looked apprehensive. "…no? Is it something I should know?"

"Well, probably, seeing as you have it on your neck," Melody responded, pointing at the side of Rina's neck.

Karina quickly clamped a hand over the spot self-consciously. Blarked? What the hell does that mean?

Melody let out a short laugh. She reached into her trunk and then pulled out a silver hand mirror, handing it to Rina. She took it, with a grateful smile, and then held it up in front of her. Hesitantly, she removed her hand.

Karina Jenkins nearly dropped the mirror in surprise. Then she sprinted out of her dormitory, two words leaving her mouth in an angry scream.

"_SIRIUS BLACK!_"

* * *

Sirius was sitting in his bed in the boy's dormitory, when he felt an icy tingle crawl up his spine. He shivered, even though the room was warm.

"You alright, mate?" Remus asked him, looking concerned.

"Fine…shivers, that's all."

"Here," Peter said, waddling over to Sirius with a packet of cheeseballs in one hand. He thrust the bag towards him in an offering. "Want some?"

"Are the cheeseballs supposed to make me feel better?" Sirius asked.

"They make me feel better," Peter responded in turn.

"All food makes you feel better," Remus pointed out.

"Food makes everything better," Peter squeaked. He shook the bag a little. "Take some."

Sirius gave the shorter boy a small smile and scooped out some of the cheeseballs. "Thanks, Wormy."

Peter beamed back at him, his small, watery eyes shining. It wasn't an understatement when people said that Pettigrew worshipped Sirius. He always followed him around like a puppy.

Sirius didn't even bite down on the puffs that Peter had given him before they had flown out of his mouth.

"BLACK!" screeched a girl, who had just slapped him across the face, causing the cheeseballs to launch themselves to the right, hitting Remus straight in the cheek.

Remus wiped his face in disgust, flinging the remains to the ground. "Oh, that's gross."

"What's this?" demanded the girl, pushing Sirius back against the bed.

Sirius was momentarily dazed, staring at the girl on top of him, surprised. Then, finally, he spoke.

"Karina." He noticed that his voice sounded kind of forced, and realized that it was because Karina was sitting on his chest, pinning him down. At what point did she straddle him? It all seemed like a blur. "Fancy seeing you here."

She glared at him in response.

"Come here often?"

"_Sirius_!"

"This is quite the provocative position we have here," he commented nonchalantly, ignoring her fiery stare. "I personally prefer being on top, but I'll make this an exception."

If looks could kill, Sirius would definitely had been dead. Karina was practically seething, and looked just about ready to rip out his hair.

"What is this?" Karina demanded, pointing at the bottom of her neck, just above her collarbone.

"What's what?" Sirius asked, his eyes peering at what she was gesturing at.

She scowled and pulled down the neck of her shirt a little, revealing the mark that was left there.

"_This_," she hissed. Her voice was dangerously quiet.

"Ah."

"_Ah?_ Is that all you have to say to me right now?" she exclaimed. She bunched up the collar of his shirt in one hand, making it into a fist. Sirius looked terrified.

Remus and Peter, who had made their escape into the bathroom the moment Karina had pounced on top of Sirius, snuck a peak out through the door.

Sirius saw them out of the corner of his eye and mouthed the words '_help me_' in desperation.

Remus and Peter simply ran out of the dormitory, looking quite petrified of the angry Karina. Sirius could hear the bounding of their feet as they rushed down the stairs and into the common room.

Well, shit.

"You got a tattoo!" Sirius chuckled weakly. "How rebellious of you."

"Blarked?" Rina's hand that clutched at the front of his shirt tightened and Sirius gulped. "_Blarked_? What the hell is that supposed to be?"

"What it sounds like," Sirius responded. "Blarked. Black Marked. You've been marked by Sirius Black."

Karina sat back on his stomach, letting go of his shirt. Sirius gulped again, but not because he was scared of her. He needed to find some self-control and fast, if you know what I mean.

Sirius cursed his mind. Why did she have to come in such short shorts? And why did her legs have to be so gorgeous, and smooth and—oh Merlin, how he loved it when girls wore shirts that were too big for them.

And her hair wasn't in the tangled, messy bun that it was in before. Now it cascaded around her shoulders in waves. Sirius caught a whiff of raspberries and vanilla wafting off of her and he lay there, silently wondering if she was wearing perfume, or maybe it was her shampoo, or body wash or maybe she just naturally smelled like that.

Whatever it was, he liked it.

"Marked by—Ugh, why do you have to seem so nice one minute and then next you do this?" Karina exclaimed.

"It's not that bad," Sirius defended himself. "Come on, Rina. You're overreacting. You've just been Blarked. It's not permanent. Besides, most girls would do anything for a chance to be Blarked, and now here you are…" _Straddling me, looking quite attractive and smelling like a goddess._

"It says, 'ready to be banged' on my bloody neck!"

"Yeah, I was in a particularly frisky mood and decided to write that instead of something more subtle," Sirius remembered. He tried not to look at her now—his self-control was decreasing, and fast.

"Get it off of me!" she demanded, leaning in to grab his shoulders. "Now!"

He noticed how strong her small hands could be. But just looking at them, they still looked so fragile, so feminine-like…

"Sirius, are you even listening to me?" she asked him, grabbing the front of his shirt again. "I'll hit you, I swear."

Even her hands smelled good. Like vanilla. Maybe the smell was coming from her lotion? It was intoxicating to him. Sure, of course, he's been with girls who smelled of raspberry, vanilla and both. But on Karina, it seemed to have a completely different result on him.

Or maybe that's just because she was straddling him. Did she have any idea of the effect she was giving him?

"It's not smart," he managed to croak out.

Karina raised her eyebrows, her blue eyes looking as if they could see right through him. "Not smart?" she echoed. "What are you talking about?"

Sirius cleared his throat. "James is Head Boy, so he's in the Head Dormitories right now."

Karina couldn't understand where he was going with this. "And?"

"Remus and Peter just left," he went on. _More like, they escaped,_ he thought. Sirius couldn't tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"I noticed," Rina said. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"They're not here."

"Sirius, I don't understand what you're trying to say," Karina told him. "And why are you looking at the wall? You're avoiding eye contact!"

"We're alone," Sirius told her. He let his eyes flit to hers and for a moment, they stayed like that, staring each other. Then he quickly looked away again.

Sirius couldn't even understand himself, right now. He's never had this problem with a girl. He never felt particularly awkward around one, never found himself needing to stop looking at her, never felt so drunk with the scent of her and the sight of her—

His self-control was depleting.

"We're alone, so what?" Karina questioned. "Just get the mark off of me, Sirius. I can't go around the castle with the words, 'ready to bang' on my neck!"

"You can barely see it," Sirius reasoned. Maybe acting casual will distract him for now.

"I want it to be gone!" she demanded. She pulled down the neck of her shirt again, revealing the black marks that made up the words, and the swirl of Sirius' signature.

Sirius started to feel protective over her. People could barely see it with that shirt on, and if she was wearing her robes and her hair was down, it'd probably be completely concealed. So why was she so angry? It's not like anyone else was going to see it. Only him.

That's right. Only he was allowed to see it. Only Sirius was allowed to look at her. He was the only one who she could show it to.

His self-control was lessening.

Rina seemed to have given up. It was like no words she spoke were actually getting through into his brain.

She got off of him and stood straight at the side of the bed. Feeling unnaturally empty, Sirius sat up on his bed, running a hand through his hair.

"No matter what spell I try, it won't come off," Rina told him. "I'm coming back tomorrow, at an hour where you can actually think straight."

No, that wasn't it. The reason Sirius couldn't think straight was because everything about Rina just seemed so addicting, not because of the time of night.

She turned on her heel and headed for the door.

His mind blank, Sirius leaped off of the bed and grabbed Rina's wrist, spinning her around to face him. He slipped one arm around her waist, pulling her towards him. Then, without a moment's hesitation, he crushed his lips to hers.

* * *

"They were arguing, and we didn't know what to do," Peter squeaked frantically, after Remus explained the whole situation to James, who they had run to straight after escaping the dormitory.

They crossed the common room, James saying, "Wait, so they're fighting? Again?" He shook his head, looking amused. "And you've been saying 'she' this whole time. Who is this girl?"

"Karina," Remus responded, remembering Sirius saying her name earlier. "But…well, she looked…different." And Remus looked increasingly awkward.

"Different?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She looked like a goddess," Peter spoke up, looking dreamy. "But a scary goddess. Like she was going to scoop out his eyes with a fork."

"How did she even get in?"

Remus hopelessly shrugged, and then said, "While we were running out of the dorm to get you, I'm pretty sure I passed by terrified first year."

"Oh, Merlin." James rolled his eyes. "She didn't scar the poor kid for life, did she?"

"Who knows?" Remus responded.

The three boys were climbing up the stairs to the dormitory. Remus held out a hand, stopping his friends before they opened the door. Instead, he pressed his head against the wood and tried to listen.

"It's quiet," he whispered to James and Peter. "A little…too quiet."

"Oh Merlin," Peter moaned, looking absolutely horrified. "She's killed him already, hasn't she?"

James, looking as if he knew what was going on behind the door but at the same time not wanting to confirm it, pushed passed Remus and slowly creaked the door open. He peeked in through the smallest sliver and his eyes widened.

He quickly closed the door again. "Yes, Wormtail. I think she's finally killed him."

* * *

**A/N: VOILA! I hope you enjoyed chapter ten! **

**Ten chapters already! WOO! **

**Please review because I love to know what you guys think about this. **

**Update is on Friday!**

**Preview of Chapter Eleven:**

"_Was it some Ravenclaw bloke?" Sirius asked her. "A Hufflepuff? A Gryffindor? Oh Merlin, was it Peter?" When she didn't answer, he groaned. "I __knew__ he had a thing for violent women. I knew it!"_

_x-x-x_

_The messy-haired Potter gave a sly grin. "It's time to play the 'Get Sirius and Karina Together' game!"_

_x-x-x_

_The other Ravenclaw shrugged, as she picked up a cinnamon roll. "I'm curious." She leaned in, and then said in a softer voice, "So give me the details, Jenkins. What happened last night?"_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven:**

Rina, her hands on Sirius' chest, pushed him away from her. She lowered her head while she took a step back, and Sirius let go of her waist. One of his hands lingered on her shoulder though, and Rina awkwardly shrugged it off, taking another step back, away from him.

"Sorry-" he began, but his sentence was cut off short by Karina punching him in the jaw. "Ouch!" he cried out, clutching his face with his hand. "What was that for?"

She couldn't think straight anymore. Why did he do that? She aimed a kick at his shins, and succeeded in hitting him. How come he kissed her? A slap to the shoulder. It was the second time, too! The second time he's kissed her! She aimed another kick higher up, at his thighs. She reeled a fist back and then slammed it into his left shoulder.

"Whoa, hey!" he exclaimed, trying to dodge her attacks. Sirius ended up running to the other end of the room. He looked around, and then picked up Peter's abandoned bag of cheeseballs off of the window ledge. "Stay back, or I'll fire."

"Cheeseballs?" Despite her embarrassment and anger towards him, Rina couldn't hold back the amusement in her voice.

"Yes," Sirius stated, brightening as he noticed her expression lightening up a bit. "Even men as noble as Godric Gryffindor fear the wrath of cheeseballs."

Karina slumped onto the floor all of a sudden, and Sirius wondered if he had just taken all the energy out of her with just that one kiss.

He took a few steps forward, cautiously at first, and tried to see the look on her face. Was she sad? Depressed? Still angry?

Confused. That's what she was.

"Sorry," Sirius said finally, rubbing the back of his neck. "I should've—I shouldn't have done that. It's just—you were here and no one else was and Merlin's pants you have the most gorgeous legs, and you smell so damn good and I couldn't…" He offered her a sheepish smile. "I couldn't resist."

"You're a moron," she mumbled.

A thought struck him and Sirius asked, "Was that your first kiss?" Then he remembered the time he had kissed her while she was unconscious in the Hospital Wing and reworded his questions. "I mean, was I your first kiss?"

Her head snapped up and she glared at him. She stood up and the thought of her just outright strangling him on the spot flashed through Sirius' mind and he held up the bag of cheeseballs again. "I swear, I'll start throwing."

Instead of strangling him to death, Rina picked up a pillow from Remus' bed and threw it at him. "Shut up, idiot!"

For some reason, the thought of him being Rina's first kiss made him feel giddy. "So that's it then? I was your first kiss?"

"No!"

The giddy was feeling was gone in a flash. "What?"

Karina flushed, her face turning scarlet. "Well…no."

"No what?"

Karina raised her eyebrows. Was he playing dumb or something? "No, you weren't my first kiss."

Sirius' mouth popped open. "Are you being serious? Who was it then?"

She couldn't believe this. Why was he so interested in her personal life?

"Was it some Ravenclaw bloke?" Sirius asked her. "A Hufflepuff? A Gryffindor? Oh Merlin, was it Peter?" When she didn't answer, he groaned. "I _knew_ he had a thing for violent women. I knew it!"

"It wasn't Pettigew, you twat!" she exclaimed, throwing another pillow at him.

He laughed, catching the pillow with ease. He tossed it onto what once was James' bed, before he moved into the Head Dorms.

"Then who was it?"

Karina, who was now standing up again, shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. She shrugged.

Sirius' mouth gaped open. "You don't even know who it is? What was it, some kind of one-night stand or something?"

"No!" she burst out immediately, going red in the face. "Absolutely not! And I know who it is—well, I'm pretty sure I do."

Sirius couldn't believe this. Ever since he had met Karina, he's pegged her as one of those girls who would save their first kiss for someone special. And, seeing as she never really talked to any boys for all the years she's been at Hogwarts, he figured that she had just never found that special someone yet.

But here she was, saying that she already had her first kiss, and she could barely even remember who is was.

"How old were you?" Sirius asked, feeling a deep need to know the answer.

She shot him a look. "Why do you want to know?"

"Can't you just tell me?"

"Why?"

"Why not?"

Rina scowled. "It was the summer after fifth year, for Merlin's sake."

In the summer? "Was this some kind of summer fling?" he asked, curiously.

She scoffed at him. "I don't know why I have to tell you these things, Sirius," she stated, as she turned away from him and strode towards the exit. "It's not like you're my boyfriend."

Sirius watched, a bit dumbfounded, as she opened up the door and left.

* * *

Right after Karina shut the door behind her, she noticed Peter Pettigrew, who was kneeling down in front of her. He tilted his head up, and his tiny eyes widened in shock—or was it horror?

"Don't kill me!" he shrieked at her, and then proceeded to fall—no, _roll_—down the stairs at an alarming speed, bowling over James and Remus who were sitting at the bottom of the staircase in the process.

James swore, as his leg got crushed by his friend, and Remus smartly dived to the floor in the other direction, but not quite fast enough as his foot barely got cut under Peter's arse.

"What the hell, Wormy?" James asked, pushing Peter off of him with a huff. Remus made a face of relief as Peter's weight got lifted off of his foot.

"Sorry," he mumbled. Then he pointed at Rina, who was still standing at the top of the stairs. She stared at them wearily, wondering if she should ask if they're alright or if she should just run away before things got even more awkward.

She decided on the latter.

Karina quickly made her way down the stairs and was about to turn around and into the common room, when James shot out in front of her, blocking her path.

"Hello," he began, giving her an easy smile.

Rina froze. This was Sirius' best friend, the one who was with him the day Sirius found her favourite little hiding spot on summer vacation. Did he recognize her?

Still standing in front of her, James looked over at Peter, who was still cowering on the floor. "Really, Wormy?"

"What is it?" Rina asked him, wanting to get out of the Gryffindor Tower as fast as possible.

"Good ol' Peter there described you as a scary goddess," James explained, smirking.

Rina looked behind her at the plump boy and raised her eyebrows. "Scary goddess?"

Remus waved a dismissive hand, as he tried to help Peter back up to his feet. "He thinks you're pretty."

Karina, to the three boys' surprise, blushed. Since when did a girl get so flattered when Peter complimented them? Sure, they'd be happy because Peter was part of the Marauders, but they wouldn't be so—bashful.

"Aren't you…" James looked confused for a second, as he looked from her feet to the top of her head. "Aren't you the girl who's room Sirius broke into through the window?"

"I'd really rather you not bring that up again," she told him, crossing her arms.

"But you said your name was Karissa."

"I lied."

"Ah."

Karina looked passed James and was grateful to notice that there weren't any Gryffindors out in the common room. They must either be sneaking out and running around the castle, or in their dorms already. She could easily get out of the Gryffindor Tower without any unwanted attention.

She tried to side-step James, but he followed her movements, not letting her pass through.

Rina sighed. "What do you want, Potter?"

"I want to know what you're doing to Sirius," he replied.

Karina's eyes widened and she actually laughed. "What _I'm_ doing to _him_?" she exclaimed, incredulously. "I'm doing absolutely nothing to him! He's the one who's been following me around all day and look!" She pulled down the collar of her shirt, revealing the black marks that read, "Ready to be banged" with Sirius' signature at the bottom. "I just realized that I've been Blarked! What the hell's with that?"

James, who was already used to his girlfriend, Lily's, quick temper, calmly replied with, "Sirius is an idiot."

"I know!"

James cracked a grin. So this was the girl that had Sirius so infatuated.

Without another word, he stepped to the side and gestured for Rina to pass him. She gave him a small smile, as James said, "Well, it's getting late. You'd better get going."

Rina scurried passed him. Right before she exited through the portrait of the Fat Lady, she turned and said, "Thanks."

When she was gone, James looked over at Remus and Peter.

"What did I get thanked for?" he asked them, and Remus and Peter shrugged.

"So that was the girl that Padfoot fancies?" Remus asked. When James nodded, he whistled. "Quite the girl, might I say." Then, a thought struck him. "Wait a second…Sirius actually _fancies_ a girl? One girl? Like—he seriously, honestly, sincerely, fancies her?" The thought of it was unbelievable.

"Pretty sure," James replied. "He just hasn't realized it yet."

Peter looked up at the two boys with wondering eyes. "Then what do we do?"

The messy-haired Potter gave a sly grin. "It's time to play the 'Get Sirius and Karina Together' game!"

* * *

Sirius was confused. No, he was beyond confused. He was puzzled to the point where nothing in his life made sense anymore. Why was he a Gryffindor? Why was his name Sirius? Why was Karina so angry? Why did Karina have to be so attractive? Why did he start to think about Karina, _again_?

He groaned and slumped down onto his bed, stuffing his face into his pillow. He's been with tons of girls before. A countless amount. Yet none of them were so…

So 'what', exactly? Sirius didn't even know himself. So—addicting? Easy to talk to?

Hah, no. That's a lie. Sometimes he found it hard to talk to Rina. But addicting was true. His ears would perk up every time he heard her name, or something that sounded like it. Whenever he entered a room, he found himself searching for her without meaning to. Even the simplest things began to remind him of her, and he just couldn't understand.

"Damn it all," he muttered, his words muffled by his pillow. "I can't be—it's not possible that…no, no it can't be." He flipped himself over so he was lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

Sirius started grinning, as he remembered the last time he lay on his back in his bed, Karina was on top of him. Truth be told, she was threatening him and was about to claw his face into shreds, but she was on top of him nonetheless.

Oh damn, again! Thinking about Karina, again! Sirius scolded himself. He can't just let himself keep thinking about this girl every time he tried to fall asleep.

"It's absolutely impossible that I've fallen in love with a girl like Karina Jenkins," he spoke aloud, his words drifting into the empty room. "Isn't it?"

* * *

"You alright?"

Karina looked up from her bowl of oatmeal and was surprised to see Melody Cartier sitting across from her, at the Ravenclaw table.

"Fine," she responded bluntly, turning her attention back to her breakfast. She spun the spoon between her fingers. "Why do you ask?"

"You came back to the dorm pretty late," Melody replied, as she grabbed the jug of chocolate milk and poured herself a glass. "And you were smacking your cheeks a lot, saying something like, 'stop being an idiot' and 'he's insane'. I can only assume something happened between you and Black?"

At the mention of Sirius, Karina dropped her spoon and her oatmeal splashed up. She gave a heavy exhale, and wiped some of the oatmeal off of her hand with a napkin.

Melody smirked. "So I was right. What happened?"

"Why do you care?" Karina asked her, as she pushed her bowl of food away. She lost her appetite.

The other Ravenclaw shrugged, as she picked up a cinnamon roll. "I'm curious." She leaned in, and then said in a softer voice, "So give me the details, Jenkins. What happened last night?"

Karina's eyes flicked over to the Gryffindor table. James and Lily were sitting next to each other, Remus was turning his bread different colours, Peter was shoveling scrambled eggs into his mouth and Sirius…

Sirius was snogging some Gryffindor sixth year. She was sitting in his lap, her hands tangled in his hair and his hands wrapped around her waist.

Melody followed Karina's gaze and sighed. "They should get a room."

"I know right!" Rina scowled, and then gulped down her glass of milk. Then she shouldered her bag and made her way to the Potion's classroom to be the first student there as always.

But this time, Melody followed her.

Karina rolled her eyes exasperatedly and turned to face the other girl. "Do you need something, Melody?"

She shrugged, as she sat in the seat next to her in Potions. "No. What's wrong with hanging out with a friend?"

_Friend_. Karina never really had any friends. Melody didn't seem that pleasant, to be honest. She was blunt and nosy and gossiped a lot but….

But she could be Rina's first friend at Hogwarts.

"No," Rina responded, trying to make her voice sound light. "No, nothing's wrong with that."

* * *

**A/N: Woop! **

**Karina's first friend!**

**Mwahaha, I remembered to update today. I completely forget the days of the week when it's summer vacation, haha. I literally slept in to around 5:30pm yesterday, and I fell asleep at around 6am last night. I must be nocturnal or something.**

**Please review with your thoughts on Melody, and who you think Karina's first kiss was! I love it when you guys review! Pretty please!**

**-kris**

**Preview of Chapter Twelve:**

_From behind, Max wrapped his arms around Karina and shouted over to Melody, who had a couple of apples in her hands. "You can't throw those at me! I've got a hostage!" he told her, laughing._

_x-x-x_

"_Fine, then!" he called after her. "And I'm going to take a super-hot girl with me to Hogsmeade who has bigger boobs than you do! Oh wait, pretty much every girl has bigger boobs than you!"_

_x-x-x_

"_You never asked her…," James repeated slowly. He looked down at Sirius' creation of what once was soup and made a disgusted face. "Oh Merlin, it looks like Snape's hair grease gone moldy."_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve:**

"Hogsmeade Weekend is in two weeks!" James announced to the Gryffindor common room.

There were a few cheers, and Sirius went up to James' side, grinning.

"Dreams are coming true, aren't they Prongsie?" he asked him, while giving his friend an affectionate pat on the back. "Your first Hogsmeade date with Lily-Flower."

James' eye started to shine, as he thought of his girlfriend. "I feel like I finally have a reason to live."

"I wouldn't go that far."

James shot him a look. "You just don't understand, Sirius." Then he remembered what he discussed with Remus and Peter a few days ago—the Get Sirius and Karina together plan. "Who are you taking then, Pads? Karina?"

Sirius looked at him incredulously, as if he had just suggested the most insane thing possible. He seemed to have frozen with that look on his face, not saying anything, not even blinking for an entire minute.

James snapped his fingers in front of Sirius' face, and he didn't even flinch.

"Sirius?" he asked, waving a hand in front of his face. "I was just wondering if you were going to go with Karina. It's not like I bloody told you to snog Snape or something."

Finally, Sirius unfroze and exclaimed, "Go with Karina? But…"

"But what?" James asked, raising his eyebrows.

Sirius shrugged, not knowing what else to say. "I guess I'll ask her, then."

* * *

Sirius didn't really know where Rina would go on weekends when they didn't have classes, so he went where he assumed all Ravenclaws would go—the library.

But after a full fifteen minutes of running around the dreaded place, he decided that she wasn't there.

"Where would she be?" he wondered aloud, passing by a group of giggling fourth years who pointed at him.

"Hi!" one of them squeaked out, looking nervous.

Sirius flashed her a smile, and all the girls went pink in the face, and scurried away in a rush of giggles and swoons.

Sirius smirked at himself as he felt himself fill with even more self-confidence than he had before. Not like he ever ran out of confidence in himself, that is.

Another group of girls, Hufflepuff fifth years he guessed, were carrying a box of cookies and he found himself craving for some.

Cutting around a corner, Sirius made his way to the kitchens instead. A quick snack first, and then he could find Rina.

But Rina was already there.

When the entryway to the kitchen opened, he raised an eyebrow in surprise when he saw Karina sitting at a table with two other Ravenclaws.

Friends? Sirius thought she didn't have any friends.

"Oh, speak of the devil," one of the girls said, with a smirk on her face. She had long black hair and dark eyes.

Sirius pointed at himself. "I'm the devil?"

The other Ravenclaw, who Sirius recognized as the boy who accidentally dropped a pot on Rina's head a few days ago, said, "She's a muggleborn. It's an expression that means that we were talking about you, and then you suddenly came in."

"Way to sound like a nerd, Max," the black-haired girl told him. Her eyes flicked over at Sirius. "I don't think I've introduced myself yet. I'm Melody Cartier, and this guy-" she flicked the tall Ravenclaw boy with her fingers, and he flinched away from her, rolling his eyes, "—is my cousin, Max Thompson."

Sirius ignored them and looked over at Rina, who now looked increasingly awkward, as she picked at some strawberry cake in front of her with her fork. "You were talking about me?" he asked, directing his question at her.

"Not really," Karina mumbled, obviously avoiding eye contact. It was a lie, and everyone in the room could tell.

Everything in the kitchens were silent, except for the clanking of dishes and the sound of food cooking, as the house-elves milled around happily.

Melody kicked the chair that was pushed in across from so Sirius had a place to sit. "Well? Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to sit down and eat?"

Sirius, who wasn't used to girls being so rude with him, shot her a glare and sat down. Rina was to his right, Max to his left and Melody leaned in, splaying her arms across the table full of desserts.

Sirius had never seen Karina with friends before, and was curious as to what she did with them. So he gestured at them to resume what they were doing, and said, "Go on to whatever it is you guys do. I'm just here to eat." He picked up a cookie to prove his point and took a bite out of it.

He watched with intensifying curiousity, as the three of them just…talked. Like normal, regular friends. And for the first time in his life, he saw an expression on Karina's face that stated "I belong here".

Sirius, his eyes glued to her, watched as Karina got up from her seat with a handful of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in her hand and backed away from the table. Then she turned around, and Max, on the opposite side of the room, stood up.

"Ready?" she asked him, and Sirius was surprised to see her smile so easily at him.

"One," Max spoke.

"Two," Melody said in turn, with a smile. She was also standing up.

"Three!" Rina called out, and she threw the jellybean towards Max. Melody tried to intercept it with her hands, and Max maneuvered around, trying to catch the candy in his mouth.

They did this a few more times, laughing as Max got hit in the eye, giggling when Max and Melody started to wrestle over a jellybean and then Max all out running over to the bespectacled Ravenclaw.

From behind, Max wrapped his arms around Karina and shouted over to Melody, who had a couple of apples in her hands. "You can't throw those at me! I've got a hostage!" he told her, laughing.

Melody tossed the apple up into the air lightly, and caught it swiftly as it fell back down. "Leave the girl be, she's just an innocent bystander, Thompson!" Melody exclaimed, playing along.

With one arm still around Rina, Max used his left hand to search the counter behind him. He settled for a long stick of bread, a baguette Sirius thought it was called, and thrust it in front of him as if it were a sword.

"Stay back, or the girl will get it!" he warned, jokingly.

Sirius thought Karina would start to feel really uncomfortable. After all, a guy was hugging her from behind, and he knew that she didn't like physical contact all that much, unless she was hitting someone. But Karina looked…comfortable. Happy. Relaxed.

Rina eyed the baguette that Max was holding, and then took a bite out of it. It made a crunching noise, and a few crumbs fell to the floor.

Max stared at her in horror. "You ate my weapon!"

Rina grinned in amusement and then stuck her tongue out at him. "It was a delicious weapon."

Sirius stared. They looked so…close. In a friend way. They looked so natural with each other, calm—not how Sirius and Karina looked like. Whenever the two of them were together, Sirius was either doing something stupid or Rina was beating him up.

Suddenly, he felt a surge of…what was it, anger? Sirius couldn't think of what the emotion was. But being ignored for so long made him annoyed. Seeing Rina laugh and act so happily when she was with them, and almost never when she was with him—what was up with that? Why couldn't she act like that when he was with her? It didn't seem fair.

And then that Max Thompson boy, with his arm still wrapped around her. Why wasn't she beating him up? Was she just going to let him hug her like that? It didn't seem like she minded—so why did it bother Sirius so much?

He ran a hand through his hair, feeling confused, and tired, and angry. He cast a look over at the trio, and let his eyes linger over to Rina. She didn't even look at him.

So he got up and left, without a word. None of the Ravenclaws even looked over at him, acknowledging his exit.

Well, that's what he thought, anyways.

* * *

Karina saw Sirius leave, and after a few minutes, decided to follow him.

Sure, he told them to carry on with whatever they were doing. But she should have at least talked to him a bit, right? It was rude of her to just ignore him like she did. But the kiss they had shared last night was still fresh in her mind, and she didn't want to make it more awkward.

But she tried to forget about that, as she speed-walked to catch up to him.

"Hey!" she called out, and finally Sirius turned around.

"Rina," he said, stopping. He looked behind her. "Where are your friends?"

"Still playing around," she told him. Then, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot, she added, "Sorry."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. He was still feeling a bit irritated, and tried to not let it show in his voice. "For what?"

"I don't know," she replied, kicking her feet against a nearby wall. "I guess I kind of ignored you in the kitchens, and you left without saying bye or anything so I thought I was being a bit rude."

"Yeah, you were." Whoops. He sounded angry.

She looked up at him and gave him a look. "Why are you so cross?"

"Cross? And why would I be cross with you?" he responded, trying to come off as nonchalant. It wasn't working, and Rina could tell that he was trying not to burst out a few swear words. "There's no reason for me to be angry with you." _But why do I feel so annoyed, then?_

"Well, you sound pretty damn mad," Rina told him, crossing her arms. "I just apologized for acting a bit rude back there. What more do you want?"

Sirius scowled. "I'm not mad!"

"Yes, you are!" Rina rolled her eyes at him. "Are you going to tell me what I did, or keep acting like a five-year old?"

"What, do I have to tell you everything now?" Sirius asked her, the words pushing passed his lips before he could think about it.

Rina stared at him incredulously. "No, you don't. But it seems like your angry because of something I did, which makes me involved." When he didn't answer, she threw her hands up into the air in exasperation. "Merlin! I just want to know this one little thing! You're the one who was constantly asking about who my first kiss was yesterday, and that's more personal than this!"

"You're the one who bloody lied about who you were when we first met!" Sirius retorted.

"Yeah, because you're oh-so-popular Sirius Black, who struts about the castle snogging women left and right—why would you even _want_ to know someone like me?" Rina snapped at him.

"What makes you think I wouldn't want to know someone like you?" he demanded.

"Well, the way you're acting right now gives me a pretty good reason to think that way!"

"And how come when we met again on the train, you pretended that you didn't know me?" Sirius asked her.

Her mouth popped open, as she fought for words to say. "You're going all the way back to _that_? That's not even something you should be angry about!"

"You lied to me! I have the right to be angry!"

"I already explained all of this to you before!" Rina reminded him furiously. "Why do I have to explain it again? And you weren't angry then! What the hell is wrong with you now?"

Sirius glared at her. "Merlin, you're impossible!"

Rina glared back. "And you're a moron!" She scowled at him, and then spun around on her heel to head back to the kitchens. "I'm going back to my _friends_ now, Black."

"Fine, then!" he called after her. "And I'm going to take a super-hot girl with me to Hogsmeade who has bigger boobs than you do! Oh wait, pretty much every girl has bigger boobs than you!"

Rina's face flushed and she whipped back around. "See if I care! I'll get Max to go with me!"

At the mention of Max, Sirius felt even more rage bubble up inside him. "Yeah, good luck with that! You and that giant troll better have a fun time then!"

"Oh, we will!" Karina snapped back. "You have a fun time with whatever bimbo you're going to take, then!"

"I will!" Sirius told her.

Karina glared icy daggers at him, and Sirius' fierce gaze burned back. Cold and hot. Complete opposites.

"Do whatever you want, Black!" Karina told him, as she turned away from him once again and strode over towards the kitchens.

Sirius stared after her retreating figure, still feeling angry, but feeling even more confused.

"What did I just do?" he asked himself.

* * *

"Sirius."

_Stab, stab, stab._

"Sirius."

No answer.

"Sirius Black."

He ripped a roll in half for no reason and threw it back to his plate.

"_Padfoot_."

Stabbed his steak.

"Padfoot!"

Ripped it into shreds.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!" James yelled into his best friend's ear. He ripped the knife out of Sirius' hands and let it clatter onto Peter's plate that sat across from him.

Sirius looked at James with an emotionless look on his face. "What?"

"Are you alright, mate?" he asked him, with genuine concern.

"Fucking peachy," Sirius responded with a growl.

James' eyes widened. "Whoa there, Padfoot. Language."

"Sorry."

"What happened, then?" James asked, eyeing his friend cautiously, as Sirius pushed his plate away from him and traded it in for a bowl of soup. "Did you ask Karina to go to Hogsmeade with you?"

At the mention of her name, Sirius shot James a glare and James backed away, looking a bit afraid.

"I'll take that as a…no?" he offered weakly. "Did she reject you or something?"

"I never asked her," Sirius admitted, glaring down at his soup. He imagined it being Max's face and then started to shovel random things into his until it looked like a gross pile of green and brown goo.

"You never asked her…," James repeated slowly. He looked down at Sirius' creation of what once was soup and made a disgusted face. "Oh Merlin, it looks like Snape's hair grease gone moldy."

"Who would want to ask a girl like her?" Sirius snapped, pushing the soup away from him. "She's short, and beats people up and fights like a man and is always so blunt and smells like raspberries and vanilla and—damn it all, where the hell are the pancakes?" he exclaimed all of a sudden.

"Padfoot…its dinner time," Remus reminded him, his voice gentle. "There aren't any pancakes at dinner time."

Sirius muttered a string of curse words, and James threw a comforting arm around his mate's shoulders. "Sirius, why are you so angry over a girl?"

"I don't know," he confessed.

"Tell us what happened," Remus suggested kindly, to which Peter immediately agreed to with, "Yeah! Yeah, tell us!"

Sirius told them the entire story, from when he found Karina, Max and Melody in the kitchens, all the way to the end of his and Karina's fight. He told everything in great detail, since that was what Remus told him to do. So he added in the part where Max and Melody wrestled, and Max hugged Rina from behind and how she seemed perfectly fine with it and how she took a bite out of the baguette, all smiles and butterflies.

To Sirius' surprise, James looked absolutely delighted. He raised his eyebrows, and said, "Something amusing you, Prongs?"

James gave a short laugh. "Oh, Padfoot, my dear. You're _jealous_."

"Jealous of what?" he asked, glaring. "The baguette?"

Remus smiled and shook his head. "Wow. After years of getting into girls' pants, this is the first time you have ever gotten sincerely jealous over someone."

Sirius was even more confused now. "I'm not jealous!" he denied. But now that he thought about it, he wasn't so sure.

He grumbled to himself, irritated. "They've known each other for, what, four days? I've known her for so much longer, how the hell did she get closer to him than me?"

The other three Marauders gave him a look. Well, except for Peter who was prodding at Sirius' disgusting soup with a spoon, as if honestly wondering whether or not it will taste good.

Sirius looked up at them and scowled. "Fine, then! I guess….I guess I am kind of jealous."

* * *

**A/N: So there you have it, Chapter Twelve.**

**Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! Please leave a review because I love 'em so very much. :D**

**It's Karina's and Sirius' first fight! What are your thoughts on what's going to happen next, then?**

**-kris**

**Preview of Chapter Thirteen:**

_Karina shot up from the ground. "No! No way! We're not—he's not—I'm not—Merlin, Max, are you insane? I'm definitely not dating Sirius Black! Not that git, no way."_

_x-x-x_

_James rolled his eyes. "We're not against you, Padfoot. We're trying to make you realize."_

"_Realize what?"_

"_That you fancy Karina Jenkins."_

_x-x-x_

_Melody actually laughed. "Okay, well other than the fact that he's a hormonal teenager girl, what other reason do you think he'd be angry with you for?"_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen:**

"Here," Melody said, offering Rina a box of tissues, who then stared at her with a quizzical look.

"I don't have a runny nose," she told her.

"Yeah, well you and Sirius had a fight, and now that it's after hours and there's no one else around, you have full permission to become a snot-nosed brat," Melody replied bluntly.

"That was a bit harsh," Max put in.

"Sorry for being honest, Maxie," Melody responded, rolling her eyes.

Rina fidgeted awkwardly on the floor of the boy's dormitory in the Ravenclaw Tower. "Can someone tell me why the three of us are alone in the boy's dorm? Where are the rest of the seventh years?" she asked, her eyes taking in the rest of the room, mostly just to avoid awkward eye contact with Melody and her cousin.

Max waved a dismissive hand. "Half of them are prefects. And I'm pretty sure a couple of them fell asleep under a table in the library and Madam Pince just walked by them without noticing."

"And Carly, Janette and Rita are in the girls dorm," Melody added. "And I never found them very friendly."

Max snorted. "Speak for yourself."

Melody threw a pillow at him. "Shut up." She turned to Rina, and demanded, "Now, tell me. Why were the two of you fighting?"

"Who says we were fighting?" Karina asked her, crossing her arms defensively.

"We could hear you two shouting in the hallway from the kitchens," Max confessed. He offered her a sheepish grin. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't think your boobs are _that_ small."

"That doesn't make me feel better." To be honest, it actually did. Rina found herself smiling at Max's attempt, and she wasn't sure whether or not he was joking.

Max shrugged. "Worth a shot."

Karina sighed. "I don't actually know why we were arguing. He just started being so bloody rude and he sounded so angry. For no reason, too!"

Melody leaned back against the foot of the bed and stretched her legs out straight in front of her. "So, should I beat him up, or will you?"

Karina smiled. It was nice having friends. "No need, Mels. If it comes to the point where I need to send him to the Hospital Wing again, then I'll deal with it myself."

"Atta girl," Melody told her with a grin. She stood up and stretched her arms above her head. "Well, I'm going to make a quick run to the kitchens and get the house-elves to whip me up a basket of cookies. You two want anything?"

"Ice cream," Max and Karina burst out, at the exact same time.

The black-haired Ravenclaw rolled her eyes at them. "Ice cream, coming right up." She shrugged on a bath-robe that one of Max's housemates owned and left.

Max, who was sitting on his bed with, his legs crossed underneath him, said, "You're a strong person, Karina." He spoke so quietly that she barely heard him.

She looked up at him in surprise. "What?"

Max, who actually didn't mean for her to hear him, started to blush furiously. He turned away from her. "Nothing."

"I'm strong?" Rina repeated. She was flattered, to be honest. Then a thought struck her, and she said, "You're not going to say I fight like a man, are you?" she asked. "Because that's what Sirius said."

"No!" Max said immediately, looking over at her. His face was still red. "No, that's not what I meant." _What _did_ I mean?_ he asked himself. "It's just, whenever I hear about girl having a fight with her boyfriend, she's usually crying her eyes out."

Rina laughed. "Yeah, I'm not one of those people," she told him. "Wait a second…did you just say boyfriend?" she asked, her eyes widening.

Max stared at her. "…yeah? I thought you two were together. I mean, I saw him with his arm around you in the Great Hall a few days ago. When you were arguing, I thought it was one of those lovers' spats or something."

Karina shot up from the ground. "No! No way! We're not—he's not—I'm not—Merlin, Max, are you insane? I'm definitely not dating Sirius Black! Not that git, no way." She shook her head, her hair swinging around her shoulders.

"Oh, that's great," Max commented. Then his eyes widened when he seemed to comprehend what he had just said and he started to blush again. He took a pillow and pressed it against his face. "I mean…I…um…"

Karina looked confused for a second. Then, realization dawned on her and she began to blush too. "What?"

"No, I didn't mean…Well, I guess I _did_, but…"

"Mean what?"

There was a pout in Max's voice as he responded. "I don't wanna tell you."

Rina felt an amused smile creep onto her face. She walked over to him and sat across from him on the bed. Gently, she took the pillow from his hand, revealing his scarlet red face. He avoided eye contact and looked to the ceiling, at his hands, to the walls—anywhere but at her.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing," he responded. "But…well, Hogsmeade is coming up soon, so…You wanna go with me?" He was looking at her now, with nervous eyes. Quickly, he added, "As friends! You know, if you want. Or you don't have to. I mean, Melody has a date, so…"

Karina felt warm all over. Her fingers tingled, and there was a fuzzy feeling in her stomach. The only other time she felt like this was when—

No, she couldn't think about Sirius now. Max was here. And he was asking her if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade.

It was the first time anyone has ever asked her.

"Yeah," she finally responded. "I'll go with you."

Max gave her a grateful smile. "Really? I-"

The door to the dormitory burst open, and Karina not-so-gracefully fell off the bed in surprise. She distanced herself from Max, and tried to fight the blush that was covering her face.

"So they didn't have any vanilla ice cream left, so I-" Melody stopped mid-sentence as she took in the scene in front of her. Max and Karina were both red in the face, especially Max, whose pale skin practically glowed like an ember. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," Karina croaked out. "Nothing at all." When Melody raised an eyebrow, she added, "Was there any strawberry ice cream?"

Melody handed Karina a container of the cold dessert, and sat next to her. She threw a container of chocolate ice cream at Max, who let it fall onto the bed.

Leaning in to whisper into Rina's ear, Melody said, "Smooth topic change, Rina. I'm expecting full details after this."

* * *

James whapped Sirius in the back of the head with a copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Ow!" Sirius snapped out. He turned around to look at his friend. "What was that for?"

"Karina is going to Hogsmeade with Max Thompson."

The words were like a dagger through Sirius' chest, but he didn't show it. Instead, he tried to act nonchalant. "And? That doesn't have anything to do with me. She can go with whoever the hell she wants."

James gave Sirius an, 'oh really?' look, and said, "Sirius, you're obviously not okay with this."

"What makes you say that?"

James snapped his fingers. "Remus, the evidence please."

Remus gave Sirius a sly smile, as he dropped a cardboard box onto the table in the Gryffindor common room. The Marauders crowed around it, expectantly.

"So, I've been really worried about you lately," Remus began, his hands on the lid of the box. "So I looked around your part of the room. In your trunk, in your drawers, under your bed and the like."

"That's an invasion of privacy, Moony!" Sirius exclaimed.

Remus waved a dismissive hand. Then he opened the box. He pulled out the picture that Karina had drawn of him that Sirius had stolen from her even though she said that it wasn't for him.

"You're keeping awfully good care of something that someone you supposedly don't care about gave you," he noted.

"It's a good picture," Sirius said defensively. "I'd hate to ruin it."

Remus shrugged, as if to say, 'you have a point'. Then he pulled out another piece of paper—a paper that was horribly crumpled together, and looked as if it were put together again with magic after being ripped to shreds. Remus probably used magic to put it back in one piece.

"Might I ask why you wrote 'Max is a giant troll and deserves to go to Hogsmeade with Snape' on a piece of parchment?"

Sirius scoffed. "That's…"

"And, oh, what is this?" Remus asked, as he pulled out another piece of paper. "Looks like your Potion's essay, but I found it in the trash. Weird, isn't it, Prongs?"

James nodded in agreement. "Quite odd, Moony."

Sirius glared at them.

James took the essay from Remus' hand and read out loud. "Potions Essay, by Sirius Black. 'Felix Felicis, also known as Karina, is a potion that Karina, Rina, Hogsmeade, Max, troll, Liquid Luck. It is made to bring luck to Karina because she's being completely unreasonable, Hogsmeade'…" James trailed off and he pulled the piece of paper closer to his face and squinted his eyes, trying to decipher the writing. "And a scribble to the side over here that I think says 'find girl with big boobs'." James finished reading from the paper, and crumpled it into a ball, throwing it to Sirius who scowled.

"I messed up on the essay, so I threw it in the trash," Sirius told them.

"You messed up because Karina is constantly on your mind," James replied.

"And finding girls with big boobs is also on your mind," Peter added in.

"Yes," Remus agreed. "And why do you want to find a girl with big boobs?"

"To make Rina jealous," James finished.

Sirius groaned, exasperated. "You guys are all against me."

James rolled his eyes. "We're not against you, Padfoot. We're trying to make you realize."

"Realize what?"

"That you fancy Karina Jenkins."

Sirius scowled again, but this time, he didn't deny it.

* * *

Melody sighed.

She and Karina were sitting on Melody's bed, back in their own dorm instead of Max's.

"Well, I can't say I didn't see it coming," Melody stated. "But I didn't think you'd say yes."

Karina searched Melody's face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I knew that Max kind of liked you," she told her. "_Kind_ of liked you. I mean, you've only known each other for a few days and all, but you've made some kind of impression on him."

Rina blushed and hugged her knees to her chest. "But why wouldn't I say yes?"

"Sirius."

Karina shot her a puzzled look. "I am serious."

"No, I mean _Sirius Black,_" Melody replied, rolling her eyes.

"What about him?" Karina asked. And, like all the other times Melody talked to her about Sirius, she started to feel defensive, even though she didn't do anything bad.

"Come on, Rina," Melody said, giving her a look. When she didn't say anything in response, she groaned. "Oh, you're hopeless. He fancies you, doesn't he?"

"Who, Max?"

"No, Sirius."

"I am serious."

Melody gave Rina an exasperated look. "You're doing that on purpose now."

Karina grinned at her. "I know. But…" She dropped her voice to a whisper, just in case her other roommates were awake and listening in. "But Sirius? Fancying me?" She scoffed. "Impossible."

Melody shook her head. "Nuh-uh. Completely possible."

"What makes you think he fancies _me_, of all people?" she asked her.

"You really think that the fight you two had was because he was being angry for no reason?" Melody asked.

"No," Karina admitted. "I think he might have been PMS-ing."

Melody actually laughed. "Okay, well other than the fact that he's a hormonal teenage girl, what other reason do you think he'd be angry with you for?"

"I don't know."

Melody rolled her eyes. "He's jealous, you dimwit."

Karina's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. Then she started to laugh hysterically. "Jealous? Hah! Of what? Of _who_?"

"Of Max," Melody replied simply. "You should've seen the way he was burning holes into Max's face that day in the kitchens. He was practically seething. He had this entire jealousy aura surrounding him. I knew he was going to start an argument with you the moment you ran after him. It's like my sixth sense. He likes you, and I know it."

"Okay there, Professor Murdoch," Karina muttered, sarcastically. Professor Murdoch was their Divination professor, and he was, to put it simply, a bit loopy. "He doesn't. It's impossible."

"Is it now?"

"Yes, it is."

Melody shrugged. "I guess we'll have to wait until the Hogsmeade trip. Then I'll prove you wrong." She gave Rina a wink. "My sixth sense is always right, just you wait and see."

Karina just made another sarcastic remark, and then went over to her own bed and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

It was eight-thirty in the morning on Sunday, a full six days before the Hogsmeade trip.

Everyone, Rina realized, had left the dormitory already. Even Melody, who probably left early to get the first slice of pie at breakfast because everyone knows that the first slice is the best slice.

Rina was always the type of person to sleep in all the way into the afternoon on weekends. But this time, a tapping noise on the window near her bed woke her up.

"An owl?" she wondered aloud, as she opened up the window to let it in.

She untied the note that was attached to its leg, and the bird flew away, not even waiting for her to make a reply.

She unrolled the parchment and was surprised to see the drawing that she had made of Sirius staring back at her.

"He kept this?" she said, looking astonished. And, maybe, just a little bit flattered. But why was he sending it back to her, via owl?

She noticed an ink stain that wasn't there before on the picture, and flipped the parchment over. Sirius' swirly hand writing was etched on the back of the paper.

_To Karina (who I'm refusing to talk to in person until she apologizes to me for arguing)_

_The picture got crumpled._

_I demand a new one. _

_One that's better than the one before._

…_.thanks, I suppose._

_Sirius Black (who is a mature adult that doesn't yell at a woman for no good reason)_

_P.S. I don't actually think your boobs are that small, so…don't get insecure._

Rina gaped at the letter. She didn't know what to say.

"Is this supposed to be his way of apologizing?" she asked herself. "And what's with the part about my boobs?" She started to laugh. "He's an idiot!"

But despite calling him an idiot, Rina got a fresh piece of parchment and a pencil, and began to sketch.

* * *

**A/N: Please leave a review! I love them a lot, and they really motivate me to keep writing!**

**-kris**

**Preview of Chapter Fourteen:**

_And then, for the next few minutes, Remus and James had to restrain Sirius from strangling the life out of poor Peter Pettigrew._

_x-x-x_

"_Are you sending it to him by owl, or is it going to be…" She made a dramatic pause. "__Hand-delivered__?"_

"_I seriously don't understand your sense of humour."_

_x-x-x_

_Looking at it, he burst out laughing. "Oh, Godric! Ahahahah! Oh Merlin, is that __Sméagol__?"_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen:**

"Sirius, honestly," Remus said, looking exasperated. "Stop denying it already. We all know you like her."

"I do not." Sirius crossed his arms and started pouting like a little kid. "It's _her_ who likes _me_." He was about to add in the fact that he thought 'whoever falls in love first, loses' but decided to bite it back.

James raised his eyebrows. "And what makes you say that?"

"Everyone likes me."

Remus and James just gave each other a weary look, while Peter nodded in agreement, saying, "Yeah, everyone likes you!"

Remus shook his head lightly, and said to Peter, "Don't feed his ego."

"It's already too late," James reminded them. "His ego is so full that it's obese."

"Yeah, and I've already named it Danny," Sirius added in. "And he's craving for a beautiful girl who will compliment him on his hair." While saying that, he winked at a girl they were passing by in the corridor. She blushed in response, and sent a smile back at him.

James laughed, and then shook his head. "But honestly, Padfoot. Just admit it."

Sirius scowled. Weren't they finished with this topic by now? Merlin, they were persistent.

"I would, but there's _nothing to admit_," Sirius deadpanned, with a tone of finality that indicated that their conversation about Karina was over.

It was over, but only for a few seconds when Peter of all people said, "But I thought making her draw you another picture was just an excuse to start talking to her again."

And then, for the next few minutes, Remus and James had to restrain Sirius from strangling the life out of poor Peter Pettigrew.

* * *

Melody was in the library—but not because she was studying. She was trying to find Rina.

Seeing a head of messy brown hair buried in a hard-covered book, she made a bee-line to her friend's table.

Slamming her hands down onto the table, she demanded, "I need an explanation, Jenkins."

Rina yelped in surprise and dropped the book onto Melody's hands. The other Ravenclaw swore, getting a rather harsh remark from Madam Pince afterwards.

With a whisper, Melody snapped, "For Merlin's sake, how many pages is in that book?" She rubbed her hand where the book had fallen on her gingerly. "You could kill a bloody hippogriff if you drop that from a high height."

Rina rolled her eyes, and flipped the page in her book, her eyes trailing down the words.

"And what is _that_?" Melody asked, looking down at the sketch Rina had drawn. She picked it up and examined it. "What is this, some kind of starving gnome?"

Again, Rina rolled her eyes. "That's Gollum. He's a character in this book." She held up the text-book like novel and Melody flinched away from it theatrically, as if afraid of getting hurt by it again. "Well, he was originally called Sméagol, but then he found this-"

"Ring?" Melody offered.

Karina's eyes brightened. "You've read it?"

"No, but the title says 'Lord of the Rings' so I just guessed." After a pause, she added, "Isn't that a muggle book?"

The other girl seemed to deflate a bit, when she realized that Melody hadn't, in fact, read the book. "Yes, well, it's a good book. And I like muggle literature."

"It hurts people."

"Suck it up."

Melody gave herself a shake and reminded herself why she was there. She pulled out a piece of parchment that she had in her bag and thrust it towards her friend. "Karina, what's this?"

At the sight of it, she flushed. It was the new sketch of Sirius that the man himself had asked for. She had just finished it, and left it on her bed, wanting to give it to him later, but Melody must've found it.

"It's…a drawing," Rina said slowly, trying to pick her words carefully.

"Of Sirius," Melody put in.

Rina bit her lip, afraid of what Melody was thinking. "…and?" she asked. Truth be told, she didn't really want to know what Melody was going to say next. Maybe she was going to tease her, or maybe…

Melody raised her eyebrows. "And…why do you have it? No wait, better question, why did you make it in the first place?"

"He asked for a new one since the old one got an ink stain on it," she explained simply.

"Ah," Melody said, as if that made perfect sense. But it didn't. Instead, she had even more questions. "Wait a second, a _new_ one? Because the old one got—there was an _old_ one? Why? When did you make it?"

Rina really didn't want to talk about it, but this was her friend, her first friend in seven years, and she didn't want to keep secrets from her. "It was summer vacation, and he showed up at my house-"

"You _house_?"

"—and while he was taking a shower, I-"

"A _shower_? At your _house_?"

"I felt like drawing, so I drew a picture of him," Rina finished. "And I didn't mean to give it to him, but he just took it from me anyways."

Now that she thought back to that day, she realized something.

She still had Sirius' clothes from the time he was soaked in sweat and he had to change. And now that she thought about it even more, she realized that Sirius still had her dad's clothes.

She put her face in her hands and moaned. "What the hell…"

"_You're_ saying that?" Melody threw her hands up into the air in exasperation. "You never told me there was history between you and Black! I thought you two just met on the train and had some kind of lovey-dovey connection!"

Rina glared at her. "There was no 'lovey-dovey connection', dummy. And it's not much of a history, either. We just saw each other a few times during the summer, that's it."

"Oh Merlin, wait until Max here's about this-" Melody began.

Rina's arm flew out and grabbed Melody's shoulder. "No way. Don't tell him."

Melody gave her a look. "Why not?"

She stayed silent.

"Dear Rowena Ravenclaw, he confessed to you didn't he?"

Silence.

Melody threw her arms into the air again. "Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?" Then the questions started to fly out of her mouth. "When did this happen? Was it before or after he asked you out to Hogsmeade?"

"After," Rina responded.

"So? You're not dating are you? You're not going to make me that awkward third wheel, right?" Melody asked. "And what about Black?" Her mouth popped open. "Oh, Merlin's saggy underpants, you're in a bloody love-triangle, aren't you?"

"Shh!" Karina hissed, as other students in the library started to look their way. "We're not dating. Let's…let's talk somewhere else."

* * *

"So you're telling me…," Melody began, sitting with her feet up on a table in the kitchens, Rina sitting across from her. "That you lied to Sirius about who you were, just because you…" She trailed off expectantly.

Rina sighed, looking tired. "Because he never noticed me anyways, so I thought, 'why not have a little fun?', and being all…alter-ego Karina was the thing to do. Or so I thought."

To be completely honest, Rina wasn't regretting that night, when she lied to Sirius about who she was. She never did. It was, after all, their first real encounter. It was the first time she had ever had a proper conversation with someone so popular, and loved, and all around…awesome.

As much as she tried not to give in, she couldn't. Karina had come to the conclusion that she didn't hate Sirius Black. Not at all. Well, not always. Only when he did insanely stupid things, like kiss her while she was unconscious and embarrass her in front of the entire bloody school in the Great Hall—

But the thing was, she wasn't actually angry at him for that. She was furiously embarrassed, yes, but she didn't hate him for it. She couldn't bring herself to.

And that made her angry with herself.

Suddenly, Melody started laughing. "Oh, this is great. He saw you in your knickers!" She cackled, kicking her legs in the air and accidentally knocking over a basket of cookies. Several house-elves swarmed around the basket, cleaning up the mess. Another one came and replaced the basket with a new one, with fresh cookies in them.

"I really don't want to think about that again," Rina said, as she took a cookie and bit into it. The chocolate-chips were still melting, and she moaned in ecstasy. "Oh dear Merlin, this is the most glorious thing I've ever tasted."

"Better than Sirius' lips?"

"Oh, definitely."

Melody laughed again, and Rina realized what she had said. She glared at her friend from across the table.

"Well," Melody said, getting up from her seat. "Speaking of Sirius Black, you should probably give him that picture he…requested." She wiggled her eyebrows at the last word, as if it had some kind of secret meaning.

Karina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Are you sending it to him by owl, or is it going to be…" She made a dramatic pause. "_Hand-delivered?_"

"I seriously don't understand your sense of humour."

Melody just waved a dismissive hand. "Whatever, whatever. So which is it then?"

Karina put in a few minutes of thought into it, and then decided that she still didn't want to face Sirius. "By owl, I suppose."

"Then you better get to it, before he falls asleep." Melody checked her watch. "Merlin, it's almost ten already. How long have we been here?"

Rina, who was eating another cookie, shrugged. "If empty cookie baskets stood for hours…" She didn't finish her sentence, when she saw half a dozen empty baskets, stacked up onto a counter.

"Don't think about that, never mind," Melody said, as she look down at her stomach and patted it, as if wondering how much weight she had gained. "But anyway, tell me. Do you like Max? And be honest here, Rina."

Rina wrung her hands together and awkwardly said, "Well, kind of. As a friend, though."

For some reason, Melody looked ecstatic. "Woo! The first awkward friend-zoning experience I've gotten to see all year! This'll be fun."

Karina rolled her eyes at her.

* * *

She picked up her quill and began to write a note to go along with the picture.

_Sirius Black (who I'm going to give the silent treatment to until he properly apologises to me)_

_You're so careless. How could you get an ink stain on my glorious artwork?_

_You better not get this new one dirty. I'm not making you another one if you do._

_You're welcome._

_And you better apologise, dimwit._

_-Karina Jenkins_

_P.S. Who says I'm feeling insecure about my boobs? You obviously haven't seen me in a bathing suit._

Karina smirked to herself when she finished rereading her letter. Her sarcastic, spunky side was starting to show again, as it usually did when she was talking to Sirius.

She rolled it up into a cylinder and tied it with a string. Her owl, Zachariah, was already waiting for her. He was standing on her desk, beside the lamp, and he stuck out a leg expectantly.

She stroked his head gently, and then tied the note to him. He was about to take flight, when she exclaimed, "No, wait! One more thing."

Rina quickly scurried over to her bed and grabbed one of the folded pictures she had in her book, and tied it to her owl.

"There you go," she told him. "To the Gryffindor Tower, remember. Boys' Dormitory." She cocked her head, trying to remember something. "You probably know Sirius' owl, right? They're probably together."

The brown owl took flight, his great wings flapping as he soared out of the window and into the night.

* * *

Sirius was striding to and fro in front of the window, his hands behind his back, his head lowered to stare at the ground.

"Sirius," Remus finally spoke up, starting to get tired of his friend's constant pacing. "It's late already. I don't think Rina will write back at his hour. She's probably going to send it to you tomorrow. You've been waiting here all day, just sit down."

Sirius shot him a look. "Who says I'm waiting for a reply from her?"

Remus just shook his head, giving up. He was going to deny this forever, wasn't he?

Then he heard a hollow tap against the window, and Sirius' eyes brightened and he rushed towards it. He flipped up the lock and pushed the glass up, letting a pale-brown owl through.

Upon seeing Karina's owl, Sirius' own, that was sitting in its cage on top of his trunk, began to squawk.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "You two know each other?" he said, amused. He smirked, as he untied the papers from the brown owl's leg.

He quickly read the note and whistled. "Bathing suit, huh?" He started having mental images (or fantasies, however you'd like to put it) and smiled to himself.

Sirius gave himself a shake, and then started to unfold the paper that had the picture of him that she had drawn.

As he unfolded the paper, he noticed Remus giving him an entertained look. Sirius cleared his throat, trying to calm his excitement. Finally, he smoothed the paper down, and scanned his eyes over the sketch.

The paper fell away from his hands as Sirius stood there in shock.

Remus, confused, walked over to him and bent over, picking up the piece of parchment.

Looking at it, he burst out laughing. "Oh, Godric! Ahahahah! Oh Merlin, is that _Sméagol_?"

"_Who_?" Sirius asked, his eyes nearly bulging out of his face.

"He's someone from the book Lord of the Rings," Remus explained, still laughing. "This is so gorgeous! Oh my Merlin, the look on your face!" He was practically wiping tears from his eyes. "It was priceless!"

"Does she think I look like that?" Sirius asked him, starting to panic. "Do I look like that in her eyes? Oh dear Lord, she must think I'm hideous." He started to pace again. "No, no, no. Everyone thinks I'm gorgeous."

"Hahahahah!"

"Was this supposed to be some kind of prank?" Sirius wondered aloud.

"Hahahah—ahaha, oh Merlin!"

"Maybe this is how she views me," Sirius said. "Does she think I'm some kind of skinny gnome? Is that what she sees me as?"

"It's _Gollum_!"

Sirius, trying to ignore his friend's laughter and Peter's snoring (when Peter slept, he slept like a dead-person), collapsed on his bed, suddenly feeling exhausted.

* * *

**A/N: So….Lord of the Rings, yeah! :D**

**Reviews please? **

**-kris**

**Preview of Chapter Fifteen**

"…_So I think he's just afraid that Karina views him as a, well, a psychopathic house-elf."_

_x-x-x_

_Melody whispered, "Dorcas and David? James and Lily?" She gave Rina a knowing look. "I think the Slug is playing matchmaker."_

_x-x-x_

"_Oh?" Sirius raised his eyebrows at her. "Are you…are you really giving me the silent treatment?"_


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen:**

James, who was hand-in-hand with Lily, stopped dead in his tracks at the sight in front of him.

Sirius, who was supposed to be eating breakfast in the Great Hall, wasn't eating. And it seemed that he was rejecting any food Peter or Remus were offering him.

To a person who didn't know Sirius, this wouldn't have been such an unbelievable scene. But this was James, Sirius' best friend.

And Sirius.

Wasn't.

Eating.

Pie—there was pie, right in front of him! His favourite pie! And there was even pudding, which Remus was trying to give him. James watched in horror as Sirius waved it off, and continued to sulk.

"PADFOOT!" James cried out in anguish. He ran over to his friend; not wanting to let go of Lily's hand, he dragged her along with him. "Padfoot? Are you okay?" He picked up a roll and messily covered it in butter. "Here, let me feed you." James tried to shove it into Sirius' mouth.

Sirius batted his hand away and shot him a look.

James could feel his heart snap in two. "Oh no. Sirius, what's wrong? I can feed you like a momma bird if you want. Here, I'll chew it and then spit it out so it's all soft."

Sirius made a face. "No, no don't do that."

James sat down, and Lily managed to detach himself from him. "I'm going to sit with Alice, alright?"

He nodded at her with a grateful smile and turned back to his best friend. "Sirius, talk to me. What's happening?"

Sirius sighed, exasperated. "Nothing's wrong! Why does everyone assume that something's wrong with me?"

"You're not eating," Remus put in. "That's pretty concerning."

"Moony, do you know what's wrong with him?" James asked the werewolf.

He shrugged. "I think so. It's because of that picture Rina drew of…Well, it's a picture of Gollum, from Lord of the Rings-" James gave him a blank look and Remus waved a dismissive hand, saying, "It's a muggle book. And Gollum kind of looks like a psychopathic house-elf. And he asked for a picture of himself. So I think he's just afraid that Karina views him as a, well, a psychopathic house-elf."

"Can she be the one person who truly hates me?" Sirius wondered out loud. He looked sincerely worried.

"Snape hates you," James pointed out.

"So does Madam Pince," Remus added.

"And Pomfrey."

"And that first year you accidentally flew into during Quidditch practice that one time."

James made a hissing noise. "Oh yeah, that was bad. Poor kid. He was so excited, watching you fly around on your fancy broomstick and then you practically run him over."

Sirius started to feel guilty. "It wasn't that bad, guys." He tried to lighten the mood.

"He was blind for four days."

Sirius glared at them. "Well, he can see now, can't he?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Pads." Then his eyes caught onto someone walking into the Great Hall, and he kicked Sirius' shin from under the Gryffindor table. He gave a slight nudge with his head towards the doors.

Karina.

She was walking in with those two new friends of hers. Melody Cartier on her left, who was laughing at something Rina had said, and Max Thompson on her right, looking confused.

To tell the truth, Sirius didn't trust them. She never had any friends before, and now, all of a sudden, she has some? And a guy who fancies her along for the ride, too? It didn't seem right.

He had told Remus this the night before, and he remembered the words he had said back to him.

'_It's not suspicious at all, Sirius. It's just because you don't like the fact that other people are hanging out with the girl you like.'_

And Sirius was still denying the fact that he liked her. Well, that is, until _she_ admitted her undying love for _him_.

So he tried his best to ignore Karina as she walked passed the Gryffindor table and settled down into a seat with the other Ravenclaws, happily piling her plate up with toast.

* * *

"Oh my God," Karina muttered, as she entered the Great Hall. She had caught sight of Sirius right away, and the moment he looked over at her, she averted her eyes. "Melody." She grabbed her friend's sleeve. "Oh Merlin, this is bad."

Melody laughed heartily. "Is this about sending Black the wrong sketch?"

"He probably thinks I insulted him," Rina told her, sounding worried. "I didn't mean to insult him. Oh jeez, this is so embarrassing!"

Max gave her a confused look. "The wrong sketch?"

Melody gave Max a quick explanation, and he raised his eyebrows at Karina. "So…you and Sirius owl each other?"

Rina flushed. "Not always."

"And why was he even asking for a drawing of himself from you?" Max frowned. "That seems kind of narcissistic of him."

Karina shook her head. "Well, it was mostly because he accidentally got the old one I made dirty."

"You made one for him before?" Max asked, sounding surprised.

Karina sighed. "Yeah, when he came to my house this one time-"

"Whoa, stop right there," Max interrupted, holding up a hand. "He did _what_?"

They were at the Ravenclaw table now, and Rina took a few slices of toast and set them down on her plate. "I'll explain it to you later," she told him. She had learned the hard-way that simple saying the name, 'Sirius Black' caused almost everyone in hearing range to look over at you.

He looked like he wanted to protest, but he stayed quiet, silently scraping some scrambled eggs onto his plate.

* * *

"Now, we're going to have partners for this project," Professor Slughorn announced.

Melody, who was sitting in the back next to Karina, immediately looked over at her. They had a quick conversation with their eyes, where Karina nodded and smiled.

At the front of the classroom, James Potter and Sirius Black were doing the exact same thing.

This was their first partner project of the year, and Karina was having a good feeling about it. All the other years before, she had to go up to Slughorn, saying she didn't have a partner, and he'd stick her with some other two classmates and become a third-wheel. But not today.

Today, she had a friend. She had a partner.

Slughorn gave the class a look. "I'm picking your partners today."

The good feeling was gone in a flash, and Karina looked over to Melody in horror.

There was a chorus of "Aww!" and "That's no fair!" from the students. The professor raised his hands, trying to quiet everybody down.

"Quiet, now!" Slughorn yelled over the noise. "Now, I will announce the pairs. Once you know who your partner is, sit down with them. I'll give you the rest of the instructions after you're all seated and ready."

Rina bit her lip anxiously.

"James Potter and Lily Evans."

James fist pumped the air with a shout of, "Hells yeah!" and Lily let out a laugh, before she composed herself and said, "Quiet, James." But there was still a grin playing on her lips. They were already sitting next to each other, so neither of them had to get up.

"Max Thompson and Marlene McKinnon."

Max made a small wave of goodbye over to Rina and Melody, as he made his way to the front of the classroom, where Marlene was sitting, twirling her wand around and around in her fingers.

"Dorcas Meadowes and David Davies. Alice Rivers and Simon Johnson."

Melody whispered, "Dorcas and David? James and Lily?" She gave Rina a knowing look. "I think the Slug is playing matchmaker."

The thought of it made knots twist in Rina's stomach. Matchmaker? She wondered who she would paired up with, half of her mind full of curiousity and the other half filled with dread.

Melody elbowed Rina in the ribs. "What if you're with Sirius?" she whispered, wiggling her eyebrows.

Rina kicked her gently under the table. "Shush. Not happening."

"Oh, it's happening."

"Shush."

"Karina Jenkins," Slughorn announced, and there were many confused faces in the classroom, as if people had never heard of her in their life. Which they probably haven't.

Melody poked Rina in the stomach. "It's happening."

"No, it's not."

"Yes."

"No."

"You two will get all lovey-dover in the corner," Melody said with a wicked grin.

"And Sirius Black," Slughorn finished, just as Karina exclaimed, "Shut up!" to Melody.

Sirius, who was leaning back in his chair with his feet on the table, looked back at her. "Wowie there, Rina. Rude, aren't you?"

Karina felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment as all the eyes in the class turned to look at her. She looked away.

"Riiiiinnnnaaaa," Sirius called out in a sing-song voice. "Come here. Partners have to sit together." He patted the seat beside him. His eyes sparkled—was he enjoying this?

Everyone was staring at her, and Rina hated it. Just from their expressions, she could already guess what they were thinking. That she was an ugly, short girl who looked like a first year even though she was in seventh. A girl definitely not worthy of being partnered with Sirius Black, of all people. Girls rolled their eyes at her, some even gave her disgusted looks as they noticed her insane mess of hair. A few boys made some comments, saying, "I thought all the girls nowadays paid way too much attention to their looks. Now I'm starting to appreciate that."

It wasn't the first time she had heard someone say something like that, so it didn't bother her.

The guy who had said it kept talking, but suddenly he made a scared sort of noise, whispered, "N-never mind," and busied himself with his textbook.

Confused, Rina looked over at Melody. She was glaring at him with the eyes of the devil, and Karina noticed that her wand was held up under her desk, pointed at the guy who had been talking.

Huh. It was nice having friends.

Karina put her book in her back, and muttered a quick, "Thanks" to Melody. Then she walked down the isle of desks and chairs to sit next to Sirius. She looked over her shoulder at friend, and mouthed, "Help me."

Melody pointed at Rina, then at Sirius, and then made a kissy face.

"I'm going to slap her after this," Rina muttered.

Sirius glanced at her from the side, and said, "Not in a very good mood, are you?"

Karina just sighed, not answering.

"Janice Maxwell and Dean Holmes," Slughorn called out.

"So? What happened?" Sirius asked curiously.

Still, she didn't respond.

"Rita Brown and Daniel Royce," their Potion's Professor announced.

"Oh?" Sirius raised his eyebrows at her. "Are you…are you giving me the silent treatment?"

When she still refused to say a word, the handsome teenager tipped his head back and laughed.

Immediately, everyone in the class turned to look at them, trying to see what the oh-so-popular Sirius Black was so amused about.

"You are!" he exclaimed in glee. "I guess what you put in that letter was the truth, huh?"

"Mr. Black, please be quiet," Slughorn demanded.

He shot him an easy smile. "Sorry."

Karina's insides were frozen. He mentioned the letter, which means he probably got the picture too.

Oh Merlin, was he mad? She should just tell him it was a mistake.

No, no, she can't do that. She wrote in that letter that she wasn't going to talk to him until he apologises, and she wasn't going to go back on her word that quick.

So that's that then. She wasn't going to explain herself.

Karina mentally face-palmed herself. How did she get herself into this situation in the first place?

The rest of the groups were made, as Sirius and Karina sat in silence. She stole a quick glance at him to see what he was doing, and she was surprised to see that he was already looking at her.

On any regular day, she would've just asked, "What is it?" but instead, she looked away without a word.

He scoffed. She glared at him.

By Slughorn's orders, Rina and Sirius flipped to page ten of their textbook and began to read what they needed to make the Draught of Living Death.

Sirius looked down at her, his grey eyes searching her face. "Still not talking to me? We're partners for this, you know." He tapped his quill against the desk impatiently. "Communication is important if we're going to get a good grade on this."

Rina bit her lip. That _was_ true.

But she could always prove him wrong.

She scowled, and then stood up from her seat. She pointed her index finger to the list of requirements, pointed to herself, and then went to the giant closet that held all of Slughorn's ingredients.

Sirius just scowled, and slammed his quill onto the desk, startling the students around them.

A girl who was sitting behind him tapped him on the shoulder.

He turned. It was a Ravenclaw girl that he didn't recognize. She was pretty enough, with sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She gave him a cute smile, and said with a soft voice, "Are you alright?"

Sirius smiled back at her. "Perfectly fine." It was a lie, but Sirius wasn't one to spill out his troubles onto some complete stranger.

The Ravenclaw girl seemed to know that he wasn't fine, probably because there was a scowl on his face. She nodded her head over to where Karina was standing, picking up a few jars from a bottom shelf and tucking them under her arm.

"That short girl—Karina—troublesome, isn't she?" the Ravenclaw noted nonchalantly. She flipped her hair behind her shoulder. "She was being so rude to you. Not talking and all that. And she's always scowling, and always seems mad and doesn't tell anyone why."

Who was this girl? Sirius deducted that she wasn't friends with Karina. He knew Karina (or, at least, kind of knew her) and he also knew that the only reason she doesn't tell people why she's mad is usually because she doesn't want to trouble them.

"And what's with her hair?" the Ravenclaw went on. She laughed a bit. "It's so messy. Does she even care for it at all? I care for mine." As if to emphasize this, she twirled a lock of said hair around her finger.

Sirius found himself disliking this girl already, and he didn't even know her name.

"And those glasses?" She scoffed. "So unflattering. And she's just _so_ short, too!"

What was with her? Did Karina do something bad to her or something? Sirius' hand was clenched in a fist. _You can't hit a girl,_ he reminded himself sternly.

"Look at her!" the Ravenclaw said, laughing. "She can't even reach that shelf, and she's using a step-ladder!"

Sirius eyes followed her gaze and locked onto Rina, who was on her tippy-toes. She was stretching her arm out as far as she could, and her fingers barely grazed the bottom of the shelf. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, her tongue poking out from between her lips as she tried to focus on staying balanced and keeping the jars of ingredients under her arm.

At the sight of her, Sirius smiled. She looked…cute.

"Whoa, she's swaying!" the Ravenclaw stated, laughing again. "Dumb little girl will probably fall, at this rate."

And swaying she was. One of her feet started to shake from being on her toes for so long, and Sirius' breath caught when she nearly teetered over.

He quickly got up from his chair and strode over to her, placing his hands on her waist so she could properly steady herself.

Rina was so surprised that she gave out a little gasp, and looked down at him, her eyes wide.

He looked away from her, scowling. "Idiot. You could fall like that."

He lifted her off the ladder and not-so-gently dropped her onto the floor.

Karina flushed, looking embarrassed, and crossed her arms.

He turned his back to her and got the ingredients that they needed. But while no one was looking at him, Sirius allowed himself to smile.

Why did she have to be so cute?

**A/N: AHH, SORRY! I was supposed to update yesterday, but I was late. D: I apologize sincerely! My relatives visited our house for the very first time since they moved away, so I've been busy, haha. **

**Thanks to everyone for reading and subscribing/favouriting/reviewing and all of that glorious stuff! My next update will be on Friday, I promise I'll remember!**

**Preview of Chapter Sixteen:**

"_Liar, my hair is gorgeous!"_

"_Unlike your personality."_

_x-x-x_

"_So, in conclusion, they're both very conscious of each other," Melody stated slowly, "but are too dense to realize that they're starting to fancy each other, and then, adding to that, they're too damn stubborn to admit it."_

_x-x-x_

"_Well, Sirius, why don't you try and start over?"_


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen:**

"You're an idiot!" Karina snapped at Sirius, as she used her wand to pick up bits of broken glass off of the floor. She had lifted the statement of her not speaking to him until the project was over, but she was highly regretting that decision already.

"_I'm_ the idiot? You're the one who broke the jar in the first place!" Sirius pointed out.

"That's because you scared me! Why did you have to lean over my shoulder anyway?"

"I was making sure you were adding the right ingredients."

"Hah, as if," Karina scoffed. "I bet you were using the reflection from the cauldron to make sure your hair was alright. Oh, and by the way, it's frizzing up from the heat."

Sirius' hands immediately shot up and clutched at his head. Then he looked down at the girl in front of him with narrowed eyes and exclaimed, "Liar! My hair is gorgeous!"

"Unlike your personality."

"Hey, I'm the one trying to be nice here," Sirius pointed out, as he stirred their potion around with a ladle. "You're the one with the personality issues."

"Says the narcissist."

"You're just saying that because you're still too stubborn to deny the fact that you're attracted to me."

Somewhere in the back of Karina's mind, a twig snapped. That did it. Why, oh bloody Merlin why, did Sirius Black have to be some damn _impossible?_ Of all people from her school that she had to meet over summer vacation, did it really have to be Black? She honestly would've rather it have been Peter for Rowena's sake. After all, if she beat Pettigrew up once, he'd probably back down.

But_ freakin' Sirius Black._ Why did he have to be so persistent? Why did he have to make annoying her to her wit's end his first priority?

Maybe the girls of Hogwarts finally realized how much of an narcissistic prat he was and stopped hanging around him. If that were the case, it'd probably take a humongous blow to his ego and he'd need someone to patch it up for him.

As Sirius was muttering something about Karina trying to monopolize the entire project so that she'd get more marks, she looked up at him with sympathy.

He stared back down in confusion. "...What? What are those eyes of pity for?" He was about to add how gorgeous those sparkling blue eyes looked, but he had learned the hard way that complimenting her like that made her hit him.

Karina slowly shook her head. "What a poor, poor child. Has to learn how to live like a normal boy from now on."

"Who are you calling a poor child?!"

"You," she replied, as she wiped a fake tear from her eye.

"Are you looking down on me? You're mocking me aren't you?"

"And he's stupid too!" she wailed in despair.

"Why you..." he growled, as he reached for her. He was just going to put her in an innocent little headlock that older brothers did to younger sisters all of the time, but Karina, being Karina, immediately retaliated and they began a full blown physical fight in the middle of potion's class.

* * *

Melody Cartier sighed, her chin resting in her hands as she examined her friend and Sirius. "They get along quite well, don't they?"

"Er...Melody?" Remus Lupin called out to his partner. "This is a two-person project, you know."

"Right," she replied, as she tore her eyes away from the scene in front of her. A scene that Professor Slughorn was trying to intervene in, and ended up getting elbowed in the face by Sirius Black.

"TWO WEEKS OF DETENTION!"

"But Rina started it!"

"Oh, don't even try to blame this on me, Black. But if you're playing it that way, may I just inform you that _you_ grabbed _me_ first."

Melody, who had heard the entire exchange, raised a hand to catch her professor's attention, and added in, "Sir, I believe Black should be in detention not only for hitting you but also for sexual harassment."

"Sexual-" Sirius looked at Melody incredulously. "Who the hell did I sexually harass?"

Melody just snickered behind her hand. Turning to Remus, she said to him in a quiet voice that Sirius nor Rina could hear, "Come on, please tell me I'm not the only one who sees the sexual tension between those two. I can see it in his eyes. It's like he's constantly thinking about kissing her."

Remus cracked a smile. "James and I realized it too."

"And Peter?"

"No one really knows with Peter."

Melody laughed, as she began to chop up some Valerian roots with a knife. "Does...Black ever talk about Karina? To you guys?"

Remus smirked. "He never really stops. It's always 'Karina did this' and 'Karina did that'. Granted, not all of the things he says about her are necessarily good, but it's the most he's talked about one girl since...ever."

She cocked her head to the side. "Not all the things he says are not necessarily good? What trash talk has he been giving my friend?" Melody went into full defense mode, ready to leap over the table and grab Black's hair if she found out that he said anything extremely horrible about Karina behind her back.

Rina never showed it, but she did in fact get affected by what people say to her. She was just too timid to actually do something about it, unless they came right up to her face and told her in person. In that case, she felt less awkward and said whatever was on her mind. Which is what Sirius usually did, and that's probably the only reason that she's willing to talk to him so much.

Well, "willing" might not be the right word, but...

"Well, he gets pretty annoyed after he comes back to the dorm with a split lip and a black eye," Remus explained. "He really doesn't like getting beat up by girls. But..." He observed Sirius and Rina, who were standing at the very front of the room. Slughorn had finally left them alone, and Sirius was flicking Rina in the back of the head with his fingers as she stomped on his foot from under the table. "I think he's letting himself get beat up by her. Sirius is a beater on the Quidditch team; he's probably stronger than her, but will only show it when he needs to."

"When he needs to?" Melody raised an eyebrow.

Remus flushed, as he remembered what James had told him the night Rina had visited, after being Blarked by Sirius. That was before he noticed Melody hanging out with her, so he doubted Rina told her about it. About how Sirius forced a kiss on her in the dorm, that one time.

Should he mention it to her? He decided not to, coming to the conclusion that Melody was secretly a little devil.

Melody waved off his comment dismissively, and said with a smirk, "So he lets her win these fights?" When Remus nodded, she let out a laugh. "Hahaha! He's like a puppy, who's play-wrestling with a girl."

Remus smiled along. "I suppose so." Then he added, "And what about Karina? Does she ever mention him to you?"

Melody opened her mouth to respond, but then shut it, realizing that she had nothing to say. Karina never actually made the effort to start a conversation about Black with her. It was always Melody asking her about it.

A dreaded thought crept into her mind.

_Does Karina even think of us as friends?_ she thought._ She never tells me what's really on her mind unless I ask. Maybe we're just...acquaintances? Has she told Max anything secretive?_

Max. That's right; she would just have to ask Max what he thinks.

"She...Rina's convinced that Sirius Black doesn't like her at all," Melody finally said. Then she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Actually...do they even like each other? I mean, they always fight and stuff...Maybe we've got this all wrong? But my sixth sense is never wrong."

"You're sixth sense?" Remus sounded amused.

"Don't make fun of me."

"I wasn't," he assured her, but he was smiling nonetheless. "I think Sirius does, at least. I don't know about Karina, but even though Sirius might be saying things like, 'she's such a brute, beating me up all the time like that' it's really just because he can't get her out of her mind and doesn't know what to say about it. I bet he's afraid of getting attached to her like James is to Lily."

At the mention of the couple, Melody looked over at them. Lily was as red as her hair because James kept trying to steal kisses from her in the middle of their work. She tried to imagine Sirius doing that to Karina, but she could only think of Sirius getting beat up and then her fleeing the room.

"I think it's the same with Karina," Melody told him. "Well, not that she always talks about him. The opposite, actually. She tries not to talk about him at all if she could help it, and I think it's because she finds it really personal to her. She can talk about Max to me freely, and he bloody confessed to her."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "He did?"

Melody shot him a look. "Don't tell Black. If you do, I'm worried he'd pummel my poor cousin into the ground."

Remus nodded. "Karina doesn't talk about Black because she might like him, and Sirius always talks about Karina because he might like her?"

"So, in conclusion, they're both very conscious of each other," Melody stated slowly, "but are too dense to realize that they're starting to fancy each other, and then, adding to that, they're too damn stubborn to admit it."

Remus smiled. "Interesting friends we've got, haven't we?"

Before Melody could respond, a loud smack sounded at the front of the room.

She let her eyes flit over to the idiotic couple and saw Sirius rubbing his back, saying, "Ouch! What the...is your hand made of steel or something?"

"Please explain to me why our potion is bright green instead of turning pale lilac?" Karina demanded, hands on her hips.

"I don't-Whoa, oh my Godric, Rina, I think it's _alive_."

"What did you put in it?"

"I just-RINA GET IT OFF OF ME, IT BURNS!"

"Stand still! Stop flailing around or-BLACK, FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN! _You got it in my eye!_"

"Ack, my nose is burning, I can't smell anything!"

"I can't see! I think it burned through my glasses!"

She turned to Remus with a grin and replied, "Interesting indeed."

* * *

"Sirius."

"One second, Moony," the teenager in question stated, as he stared at himself intently through the mirror of their shared bathroom. He fluffed up his hair, and then madly flattened it back down. Pushed some of it back, and then brought some of it back to the front. He repeated this cycle three more times, when Remus once again stated, "_Sirius_."

"One second!" Thankfully, his smelling abilities had returned after that unfortunate incident in Potion's class. But some of it had gotten into his hair, and he was starting to doubt that Pomfrey really made it to how it was before.

"You've been in front of that mirror for over half an hour," he pointed out, exasperated. "And look,"-he gestured over to Peter, who was whimpering in a corner-"Wormtail's been needing to pee since we got here."

"Why don't you just go to another loo?" Sirius asked.

"The ghosts bully him," James informed them.

"About what?" Remus asked, curiously.

The Marauders were silent for a bit. James rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and Sirius proudly muttered something that sounded like, "Let's just say the ghosts would never bully _me_ about it."

Innocent little Remus flushed at the statement and then scowled. "Sirius, just let Peter pee."

Sirius rolled his eyes as he gave his hair a final pat, and strode out of the bathroom. Peter immediately zipped past him and slammed the door behind him.

James, who was sitting on his old bed cross legged, snorted. "Peter pee. It sounds funny."

"What is it then, Moony?" Sirius asked, after agreeing that 'Peter pee' did indeed sound funny. "You look oddly serious today." He paused for a moment, a grin tugging at his lips. "But not as handsome."

He burst out laughing as James and Remus shared a puzzling glance.

"Get it?" he asked. "You look serious, but not as handsome? Because he looks serious. He looks _like_ Sirius, _I'm _Sirius Black, _I'm_ handsome and-and...Okay, it was funnier in my head alright? Don't look at me like that."

"Tell it to Rina," James suggested. "I heard that she loves puns."

Sirius' eyes lit up. "Really? Because I always think of the best puns. They are my...my..."

"You can't think of a pun, can you?" Remus asked.

"Not everyone can be full of puns, okay Moony?" Sirius snapped. "Anyway, are you going to tell me why you guys are looking at me like that or...?"

"It's about Karina," James stated.

Sirius spun on his heel and was about to leave the room when his bestmate grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back.

The shaggy haired teenager groaned in annoyance. "Really, guys? I told you, I don't like her, for Merlin's sake."

"The thing is, Padfoot, you do," James deadpanned with a tone of finality. "You just don't know it because you're...well, to put it simply, you're an idiot when it doesn't come to simply shagging a girl."

"Thanks, Prongs," Sirius remarked sarcastically.

"If you don't like her, then why do you never shut up about her?" Remus asked, feigning ignorance. He already knew Sirius' answer, but he didn't think Sirius actually knew himself.

"Because she's...weird?" Sirius offered.

James snorted and Remus threw a pillow at him. "Prongs, you're enjoying this too much."

The messy-haired Potter let out a laugh. "Sorry, it's just knowing that my dear little Pads is in _love_-"

"I'm _not_ in love with her!" Sirius exclaimed. "I talk about her a lot because she's interesting and...different from all of the other girls."

James nodded eagerly. "Yeah, she's different, right? She's prettier than all the other girls?"

"I guess."

"And smarter, too?"

"Well, she _is_ a Ravenclaw."

"She's got these little habits that she barely notices, but you actually like them a lot?"

"She does this thing where she always hides her hands. Like, if she's wearing long sleeves she'd pull the sleeves over them, or she'd put them in her pockets or something."

"And do you see her everywhere, no matter where you go?"

"Yeah, for some reason she's always where I am. I think she's been following me-"

James started laughing again, so much in fact that he couldn't continue what he was planning to say. Instead, Remus stated, "Sirius, she's not following you. You're following her. Unconsciously, I admit, but that's just because you're too bloody stubborn to stop denying the fact that you like her."

Sirius, who was getting extremely exasperated at that point, threw his hands into the air and shouted, "Fine! Okay, how about this. Let's just say, hypothetically, and I repeat, _hypothetically_, that there may be a teensy weensy, itty bitty-"

"Larger than the sun," James added in.

"-chance that I fancy her," Sirius finished, glaring at James. He sighed. "What am I supposed to do about it? She freakin' beats me up almost every time I get close to her. How can I win over a girl that doesn't want to be won?"

Remus gave his friend a small smile, and suggested, "Well, Sirius, why don't you try and start over?"

"Sounds good," James agreed with a nod. "Forget about being a womanizing playboy and start from the beginning."

Sirius pouted. "But I liked the beginning. The first time we met, she was in her knickers and she looked really attractive."

"And he wonders why she beats him up," Remus mumbled to himself.

Sirius sighed. "Well...I-I guess that's what I'll have to do then."

Eyes lighting up, James stared at his friend. "Wait...you're...you're actually admitting that you fancy her?"

The shaggy haired teenager awkwardly scratched his jaw. "You better not tell anyone. Especially not Karina. I'm not fully admitting it until she does."

Remus gave him a quizzical look. "Why not?"

"Because the one who admits they're in love first, loses."

**A/N: AHGSJFKJKSKWEJ.**

**(cries forevermore)**

**Alright, so I originally had up to chapter 19 all written up, and I just had to reread them and make corrections and such but then...BUT THEN...My laptop died and I lost all of my work and...Yeah.**

**But it's okay, since I can kind of remember what I wrote.**

**...kind of. **

**Anyway, THANK YOU FOR READING, REVIEWING AND ALL THAT GLORIOUS STUFF!**

**Preview of Chapter Seventeen:**

_"IT'S IN MY EAR!" Snape cried out in complete and utter terror._

_x-x-x_

_"You've been in love? With what? Yourself? A slice of pie?"_

_x-x-x_

_Flashback_

_Karina Jenkins: Sixth Year_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen:**

Needless to say, Karina was starting to get a bit freaked out. For the past couple of days after their spat during Potion's class, Sirius had been acting...weird. _Really_ weird. Weirder than he normally was, that is.

And how did Karina know that he was weirder than he normally was? Because, for the first time all year, Sirius wasn't using any pick-up lines on her. He wasn't shamelessly complimenting her, wasn't trying to whisper sweet nothings in her ear. And he stopped arguing with her. Whenever she'd snap at him, he would just kindly apologise, making Rina feel extremely guilty.

She had wondered if maybe he'd gotten tired of her. Decided that she really wasn't worth the effort (that was her first thought, actually). But that didn't seem to be the case. Ever since he started with this new attitude, he would greet her every single day, saying a simple, "Hey, what's up?" but whenever she was about to respond, he was just stand there blankly, and then walk away without another word.

She just couldn't understand! He still talked to her, but didn't try to seduce her in any way? He was being kind to her, but not to try and get her to sleep with him? He stopped having silly arguments with her, but _why_? And furthermore, he wasn't 'getting it on' with any of the other students. Sure, he still flirted with them (old habits die hard, apparently), but Rina hadn't seen Sirius kiss another girl since it all started. None of it made a lick of sense.

Was he planning something? Maybe all of this was part of some elaborate scheme to get her to fall for him. Was that it? Was he aiming to make her fall in love with him and then dump her after he's bored?

"Ugh!" Karina exclaimed, exasperated. She was walking down a corridor on her way to the library, alone. Max and Melody had been called to the Headmaster's office for some kind of family matter, and she had nothing better to do. So she thought she'd get her mind off things and study for an upcoming quiz, but why, oh Merlin why, did Sirius Black keep squeezing into her thoughts?

"Hey!" a voice called out from behind her. Karina recognized it immediately, and she was a little scared of the fact that she'd probably be able to tell which voice was his in a group of people. She was also scared that she was also starting to get familiar with his scent-he almost always smelled like cologne and pine wood. Without even realizing it, she had become completely familiarized with Sirius Black.

Rina slowly turned around, textbooks gathered in her arms. Sirius noticed that she was doing that thing again-where she'd pull the sleeves of her sweater over her hands and hide them.

"Uh," he began.

Rina had expected that. Next, he was going to try and make generic small-talk.

"So...what's up?"

After that came the stuttering. Which was odd, because Sirius Black didn't stutter. He was always smooth, always had the right words to say. But here he was, his words becoming a mush.

"I-uh, well, um..."

And finally, he was going to go away without any explanation.

He began to walk in the other direction, when Karina blurted out, "Wait!"

They both froze.

_What? Wait? What do I mean by "wait"? Why would I tell him to wait? What could I possibly want to talk to him about? What am I supposed to say now? I don't even like talking to him, do I? Merlin, I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot, and now there's another idiot in front of me waiting for me to say something. And _why_ is he waiting? Oh, that's right, because I told him to wait!_ Thoughts were swimming around Karina's mind in a crazy rush, as she tried to think of what she was going to say. She hadn't actually expected him to stop and turn around. Hell, she hadn't even expected herself to speak out like that. It wasn't a very Karina-like thing to do.

But now, there they were. Standing in front of each other like two very socially-awkward thirteen year olds.

"What's wrong with you?" Karina asked. Then she realized that her wording was harsh, and reminded herself to think before she spoke. "I mean...you've been acting weird lately."

"Have I?"

"Most definitely."

"Oh."

Karina blinked up at him. "Well? Are you going to answer my question?"

"Nothing's wrong with me," Sirius told her. "I just...don't know what to say anymore."

She cocked her head to the side, a clear sign that she was confused. "What do you mean?"

Sirius had an inner battle with himself. As if he could just tell her, 'oh, yeah, I'm trying to stop using pickup lines on you and stuff because you obviously don't like that, but I don't actually know how to talk to girls when it doesn't involve pickup lines so...'

Wow. Sirius really hadn't expected to be this inexperienced when it came to girls. All he'd have to do was use a pickup line, give out some flattery, lay out the "Wow, I can't believe I've never noticed how gorgeous your eyes are" and then flash that heart-stopping smile of his. Then _bam!_ the girl was his until he got bored and chose another one.

But none of that worked on Karina. If he used a pickup line, he'd get smacked. If he complimented her, she wouldn't believe him. If he pointed something out about her that he really liked, she would just explain about how she saw it as a flaw. And whenever he'd smile at her, she'd say something like, "Are you imagining me in my underwear right now?"

She thought _he_ was impossible? Sirius thought the same thing about her.

"Black?" Karina asked, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Oh, right, it's just that-"

He was cut off (thankfully, for he didn't really know what to say) by Severus Snape literally diving out from behind a corner.

The hooked-nose Slytherin scrambled up to his feet and began sprinting as fast as his scrawny legs could take him. He extended an arm, about to push Karina out of his way, when Sirius grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer to him and away from Snape.

"AHHH! GET IT OFF OF ME!"

Karina held in a giggle, as Snape tripped over his too-long pants and fell to the floor. He began wiggling around, his arms swatting some kind of invisible creature away from his face.

"It's dripping! Get it off! Get it away!"

Sirius let out a laugh, as Snape got to his feet, only to trip over his pants again and smash his head against a wall. Rina chuckled behind her hand.

"IT'S IN MY EAR!" Snape cried out in complete and utter terror. His eyes locked with Karina's, and he said, "Don't you see it? Help me! Get it off! Oh...It's wet! And slimy! It's-it's getting in my _nose_!"

At that, the seemingly insane Severus Snape frantically crawled down the hallway and around the corner, continuing to yell out for help.

Rina was laughing again. She broke away from Sirius' grip (too busy laughing to get embarrassed about it) and asked, "What was _that?_"

Sirius gave her an arrogant smirk. "Hallucinogenic potion," he explained.

"Hallucin-Wait, we've never made hallucinogenic potions before," Rina told him, a quizzical look in her eyes.

"I made it myself."

Her mouth popped open. "Wait, wait, wait," she said, holding up a hand. "You're_ smart?_"

Sirius pouted. "I find it offensive that you'd think that, Rina."

She was about to apologise, but something else slipped out of her mouth first. "Thank Merlin."

He looked down at her, confused. "Why are you thanking Merlin?"

"Huh?" Rina realized that she had actually meant to say that in her head, and she silently cursed herself for it. "Well, no, it's just...You're normal again."

He stared. "I'm always like this."

"No, you're not," she countered. "You've been acting strangely and it's been bugging me. Nice to know that you're still an arrogant prankster, and you haven't turned into Potter when he first realized he fancied Lily." Sirius continued to give her a puzzled look. She sighed, and then added, "You know, with all that weird stammering you've been doing around me? And how you'd run away after that? It's exactly how Potter would act around Lily after he tried to stop being so arrogant and out-of-control."

_Well, shit_ thought Sirius. _I've been acting like bloody head-over-heels in love James this whole time and I didn't even realize it?_

Not meaning to, Sirius let out a laugh. "Me? Act like a drunkenly in love Prongs?"

"Seems impossible," Karina agreed.

"_Seems_ impossible," Sirius said, "but still possible."

She blinked up at him. "What?"

"What?"

"You've been in love? With what? Yourself? A slice of pie?" She had a hard time believing it, and to be honest, he couldn't blame her.

"Actually, it was with myself eating a slice of pie," Sirius corrected her jokingly.

Karina nodded, "Yeah, I find myself eating a slice of pie a very lovable idea."

As casually as he could, Sirius questioned, "And you? Have you ever been in love?"

She looked away from him, and focused on a painting at the far-side of the corridor. "Maybe," she replied simply.

"With who?" Sirius asked curiously. He felt an eager desire to know who managed to make Karina fall in love, but like hell was he going to admit that he was jealous. "Wait," a thought clicked into his brain, "Oh, don't tell me, it was your first kiss? That person?"

"My first-NO! No, no, no, no, no." Karina flailed her arms out in front of her in a defensive position. "Most definitely not my first kiss. No. No way. Uh-uh, impossible."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at her, obviously suspicious of the way she was acting. "Who was it?"

"None of your business."

Sirius was about to make a whole argument on how it was, in fact, his business (though he actually knew it wasn't) until a sixth year Hufflepuff squealed out from behind him.

"Siri-kins!" she shouted, running up to him. She then proceeded to leap onto his back, forcing him to give her a piggyback ride. Her arms immediately wound around his neck, and she nuzzled her face into his hair.

"Uh," he said, trying to look at the girls face. "...Who are you?"

Rina looked away from him and hid a giggle behind her hand.

"Oi, Karina, why are you laughing over there?" he asked her.

"_Siri-kins?_" She let out a full-blown cackle. "Siri...Siri..._kins_? Ahahaha!"

"Hey, sweetheart, off you get," Sirius told the girl on his back, as he unhooked her arms from around his neck.

The Hufflepuff pouted. "You're no fun, Boo-Bear Black."

That made Karina make a very unladylike snort.

Sirius glared down at her, and Karina held out a hand, saying, "Sorry, sorry, I just..._Ahahaha!_ Wait until I stop laugh-laugh-ahahahaha!"

The Hufflepuff whined again and Sirius waved her away, after complimenting her on her hair, of course. She seemed satisfied with at least that, and the little blonde-haired Hufflepuff pranced along her way.

"You're laughing way too much," he told her, his arms crossed.

"Boo-Bear Black? Siri-kins? Was she being serious?" Karina wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. "Oh, Merlin, what the hell is with those nicknames?"

"I've got no clue!" Sirius exclaimed. "It's not like I asked them to call me that!"

"Who would even make something up like that?" She laughed again. "She would have to be-have to...oh." Karina trailed off, not finished her sentence.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"It's obviously something."

"Nope!" Karina tightened her grip around the textbooks that were in her arms and then dashed off to the library without another word, leaving Sirius standing alone in the corridor, looking as confused and puzzled as ever.

But still, he smiled.

"I had a normal conversation with her, didn't I?"

* * *

_Flashback_

_Karina Jenkins: Sixth Year_

It was the third day of her sixth year at Hogwarts, and, as always, Karina made her way to the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall alone.

It was like she was a ghost. No, wait, even the ghosts got noticed more than she did, as she let her eyes wander over to Nearly Headless Nick and the Marauders laughing together.

Ah, the Marauders. Sure, they pranked people all the time, bullied the Slytherins, were arrogant and full of pride but...it sure looked like they were having fun. They were constantly smiling, always had their arms around each other's shoulders like they were the best of friends because-well, because they were.

Karina liked being alone, but she couldn't help but feel a little envious, as she sat down at the end of the bench and grabbed a bread roll from a nearby plate.

"Hey, I think Lily's mad at me," she heard James say to his friends, a worried look etched across his handsome face.

"What makes you think that she's mad?" asked Remus.

"She set my eyebrows on fire."

"_Again?_" Sirius said, laughing.

Remus gave Sirius a confused look. "She never set his eyebrows on fire before."

"Yeah, she did!" the shaggy-haired teenager countered. "Remember? After Valentine's Day last year!"

"No, that was when she used a spell to make his clothes vanish in the middle of the Great Hall," Remus recalled.

"I thought she made his clothes vanish after he accidentally spilled a potion on her that made her stink for a week," Sirius said, scratching his head as if it would make him think better. "Or did something else happen after that?"

"I'm pretty sure after the potion, she set his shoes on fire, but not his eyebrows."

"The time she set his shoes on fire was after we won the Quidditch match in fourth year, wasn't it?"

"That was when she turned him to stone," Lupin replied. "The flaming shoes incident was when he gave her a note during class and they both got in trouble."

"I thought she made him choke on his own tongue after she got in trouble for the note," said Sirius. "Oh! No, no, wait! She set his eyebrows on fire last year after our exams, remember? Because he kept endlessly bragging about how he got a better Transfiguration mark."

"No, that's when she nearly drowned him in the Great Lake!" Remus said.

"Wait, so she never set his eyebrows on fire until now? But didn't she light them on fire in fifth year?"

"I think it might've been his pubic hair."

"_Guys!_" James exclaimed, his head in his hands. He groaned in annoyance. "Not helping! At all!"

Rina, having heard the entire exchange, began to laugh. They were so amusing sometimes, and she just couldn't help it.

"What's with that girl?"

"I think she's a sixth year."

"Why is she snickering all by herself like that?"

"Creepy."

"Is she looking at the Marauders?"

"_Super_ creepy."

Karina heard four of the seventh year Ravenclaws at her table whispering, but she chose to ignore it. Most people would probably say things like, "Confront the bullies! Or tell a teacher!" but honestly, Rina didn't care too much. It was too bothersome to talk to them.

"Hey," a girl said, her voice high-pitched and squeaky. It was one of the gossipy Ravenclaw seventh years.

Karina tilted her head up to look at her and nearly choked on her toast.

"_What_ is on your face?" she exclaimed, before even thinking through what she was going to say.

The girl in front of her tentatively touched her cheek, and then gave her a quizzical look. "What do you mean? There's nothing on my face."

_Oh, it's just a shitload of makeup,_ Karina thought to herself. "Ah. Nevermind."

"Well, we saw you staring at the Marauders and we just thought to ourselves," the girl in the front began, gesturing behind herself at the possy that followed her, "wow, what a freaky girl! It's kind of disturbing, isn't it? To have someone weird like you laughing at them?"

Karina blinked. "Yeah, I guess so."

The seventh year raised an eyebrow. "I think you're missing the point here." She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward to speak threateningly into Karina's face. "Stop staring at them like that. Don't laugh at what they say. It's pretty disgusting seeing someone like you do that, with your messy hair and weird clothes. And what is with your..."

By then, Rina had zoned out as she let her eyes flit back over to the Marauders. Remus was helping Sirius with some homework, and she smiled. _Oh, how nice. Friends helping each other with schoolwork._

"Hey!" the seventh year exclaimed, snapping her fingers under Karina's nose. "Are you even listening to me?"

"No," Karina replied simply. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Too busy staring at Black," the seventh year murmured under her breath. She scoffed. "Listen here, shrimp. Definitely don't even _think_ about fancying Sirius Black because he is _way_ out of your league."

Rina blinked. How in the world did they even come up with that conclusion? She decided to just stay silent because she figured that sooner or later, they'd leave her alone.

But, ten minutes later, they were still there. The girl in front was still ranting about something to do with status and levels and leagues and Karina really didn't have a clue what she was going on about. Finally, she said, "Alright! I'm a creep! Whatever you say! Merlin, can't I just eat my toast in _peace?_"

The girl in front of her looked a bit taken aback. "Hah! So you admit it then? You _are_ a creep?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Karina said, her mouth full of toast. She swallowed, and then said, "And, since I'm a creep, I know every little thing about the Marauders," she lied. "So why don't you go over to Sirius and call him Siri-kins or Boo-Bear Black. He secretly loves pet names like that, trust me."

And, to Karina's surprise, they left. Amused, she watched them strut over to Sirius, squealing, "Oh, Boo-Bear!" and she nearly snorted when she saw Sirius' look of horror.

"Finally," she mumbled to herself, as she piled her plate up with cinnamon rolls. "No more annoying people."

What were those girls even saying? Were they on drugs or something? Her? Karina Jenkins, fancying Sirius Black? As if. In what reality would that even be a _possibility?_

Besides, if she had to fancy one Marauder, it wouldn't be him. She knew that for sure. Probably because she had already been kind of fancying one of the Marauders since last year.

The one she liked was Remus Lupin.

**A/N: So, you know how I had to rewrite this chapter and stuff? I'm not quite satisfied with this one, to be honest, but...I seriously can't remember what I had written last time. I sincerely apologize if any of you find it boring.**

**But thank you for reading and reviewing!**

**Oh, and does anyone even read my notes at the end? I dunno. Oh well. Next Update is on Friday, as usual!**

**And just in case people do actually read my notes...Are there any anime fans out there? Because I've recently become a huge fan of Attack On Titan, haha XD That fact has nothing to do with...well, anything, but...Ah, whatever.**

**Preview of Chapter Eighteen:**

_"Hot?" James echoed, looking confused. "It's October, why-WHY IS PETER'S BED ON FIRE?"_

_x-x-x_

_"Hey, Maxie. Do you think Rina has any sex-appeal?"_

_Max spit out his drink, the liquid spraying all over a plate of French toast. "Sorry, but...excuse me?"_

_x-x-x_

_No, no, no. Why was she getting worried about him? She should be worrying about herself! Not Sirius! What did he have to do with anything?_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen:**

"HOGSMEADE! HOGSMEADE! HOGSMEADE!" James chanted excitedly, as he rushed about the seventh year's boys dorm. "We're going to Hogsmeade today! Today! Today!"

"Shut him up!" demanded Remus, as he pulled his blankets over his head grumpily. "It's too early!"

"Now, now," Sirius said, as he rubbed his eyes and lazily sat up in his bed. For once, he was being the nice one. "It's Prongsie's first Hogsmeade date with Lily-flower; you can't blame him for being so excited."

Remus shot Sirius a glare. "Shut him up, or I'm going to make him puke slugs again."

"Again?" Sirius looked down at the floor and noticed three entire buckets full of slugs. How long had the two of them been up? "Merlin, Moony. I'm starting to confuse your days before the full moon with the days of a girl on her period. You're always so grumpy in the morn-MOONY, NO!"

Remus was sitting up in his bed, wand in hand, the tip aflame. It was just a couple feet away from James, who seemed to be practicing some sort of love poem, not noticing his friend at all.

Sirius leaped up from his bed and tackled Remus down, shouting, "_Stop!_" and the wand fell out of Remus' hands.

"I don't care how much of a non-morning person you are, or that the full moon is in a couple days," Sirius scolded him. "But lighting your friends on fire is a _big_ no-no."

"This morning?" Remus asked. The tone of his voice was irritated, but Remus never really yelled, even when he was furious. He calmly, yet exasperatedly said, "Padfoot, look at the clock. Just look at it."

Confused, Sirius checked the time. Then he slowly got off of Remus and silently walked up to the bespectacled Potter, who was, for the third time, brushing his teeth.

Without a word, Sirius punched James in the stomach.

"Ouch!" Potter cried, staring at Sirius wildly. His toothbrush fell into the sink with a clunk and he bent over, spitting out everything that was in his mouth. "What was that for? I could've choked on my toothbrush!"

"IT'S FIVE IN THE BLEEDING MORNING, YOU TWAT!" Sirius shrieked at him.

"Technically it's five nineteen," James offered weakly.

"I need my beauty sleep, James! _Beauty sleep!_"

Remus grumbled something incomprehensible as he climbed back into his bed and pulled the covers over his head.

"Even Remus needs his beauty sleep!" Sirius said, gesturing over to the lump of blankets that was Remus Lupin.

"But...we're going to Hogsmeade," James said, pouting.

"AND IT'S FIVE IN THE MORNING! Hogsmeade is at 11:00am! ELEVEN!"

"But Lily-"

"Oh, speaking of Lily," stated Sirius, "why are you even in this dorm? Don't you sleep in the Head Dormitories?"

James gave Sirius a puppy-dog look as he explained his predicament. "Lily kicked me out because she said I was bothering her with her studies."

Sirius rubbed his temples. "Merlin, I'm getting a headache."

"Urghh," a voice mumbled out. Peter, who had somehow slept through the entire, managed to wake up now as he sleepily opened his eyes. "Guys...is it hot in here?"

"Hot?" James echoed, looking confused. "It's October, why-WHY IS PETER'S BED ON FIRE?"

Peter looked down at his blanket and shrieked out in surprise at the fire that was creeping up it. He promptly fell off his bed in a mad rush, which caused the blanket to push against the curtains, causing them to ignite into flames as well.

"Oh, shit, it must've been Remus' wand!" Sirius said, recalling the earlier event. "Water-we need water!"

"I got this!" James assured them, as he pulled his wand out of his pocket. He wildly swung it while muttering a spell, and water burst out through the tip.

What they needed was a steady stream of water so that James could easily control it as he doused the flames. Instead, a wave crashed out of James' wand, flooding the entire dormitory in cold liquid.

Peter sat up from the floor, spluttering and disorientated. He made a squeaking noise as he examined his blackened and drenched blankets.

Sirius, James and Peter stared at each other with blank looks, water dripping from their heads.

"What do we do now?" Sirius asked.

"I have a few ideas," a voice called out from behind them. Remus, who was just two days from becoming a werewolf and was unusually grumpy in the mornings before that, emerged from sopping covers. He pushed his hair back with his hand so it slicked down against his head. That, along with the scars along his face and the glare in his eyes, made the usually sweet-looking Remus look like delinquent.

"We've...we've unleashed the animal," James whimpered, as he clutched onto Sirius' forearm.

* * *

"You know, I've been wondering about it since this morning, but..." Melody gave Karina a look of concern. "Are you feeling alright?"

Rina looked up at her friend, her tired eyes threatening to close at any second. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she said with a wave of her hand.

"You look sick," she informed her.

It was true. Karina was looking a lot paler than usual, she felt drowsy and just a tad bit dizzy. She gave her cheeks a squeeze, bringing colour into them.

"It's nothing!" she assured Melody. "I'm just tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."

Melody gave her friend another worried glance, but then just shrugged. "Whatever you say."

The two girls walked over to the Ravenclaw table and sat across from Max, who already had a plateful of breakfast sausages in front of him.

"Mornin' Mels," he greeted. "Mornin' Kari..." He faltered. "Are you okay?"

Karina scowled. "Do I really look that bad?"

"What? No?" Max said quickly. "Nope, not at all."

Rina smiled at him. "I'm kidding, Max. Pass the chocolate milk, will ya?"

"Hogsmeade today," Melody reminded them, as she buttered a slice of toast. She eyed the people around the Great Hall, and said, "Look at all those girls getting dolled up for their dates. Typical."

Karina followed Melody's gaze and her eyes locked onto a group of girls in skirts and low-cut shirts, some with dresses, all with makeup.

Rina gave them a confused look. "Honestly, it's starting to get cold out now. Won't they be freezing in those clothes?"

Melody laughed at her friend's ignorance. "Oh, my dear, Rina. It's all for the boys."

"The boys?" Karina echoed, tilting her head slightly to the side, a clear sign that she was confused.

"It's sex-appeal, sweetheart," explained Melody. She looked Karina up and down, taking in her overly-large Quidditch fan-shirt and yoga pants. "And you don't seem to have any."

Embarrassed, Karina folded her arms in front of her. "Well, sorry. I'd rather be comfortable than pretty."

"Obviously," she replied. "But, of course, that's only my opinion. Black seems to like you well enough."

Karina groaned in annoyance. "He doesn't! Merlin's pants, when are you going to stop saying that?"

"Until he confesses to you or you confess to him," Melody responded simply. Then, an idea clicked into her mind. "Hey, Maxie. Do you think Rina has any sex-appeal?"

Max spit out his drink, the liquid spraying all over a plate of French toast. "Sorry, but..._excuse me?_"

"You know," Melody said, nudging him on. "Sex-appeal. Does she have it 'going on' in any specific places?"

"Melody," Karina held up a hand, as Max started to go red, spluttering incomprehensible words. "Please don't ask him that."

"Why not? I'm curious," she said, as she mused over her cousin's embarrassed face.

Karina was starting to turn pink as well, and was about to retort when the Marauders walked into the Great Hall. Her mouth popped open in surprise.

James, Sirius and Peter had their skin dyed a vibrant shade of blue and their hair was an even brighter shade of orange. All of their clothes were coloured a hot fuchsia, and their mouths and teeth were an eye-popping shade of neon green.

Remus strolled in from behind them, looking completely normal. A soft smile graced his kind features, as he read a book while he walked. Three wands that weren't his own were clutched in his other hand.

"What-" Melody began, but Karina cut her off.

"Don't ask. You'll be more confused if you do, trust me."

* * *

"What are you wearing?"

Karina looked down at herself, and then looked back up at Melody with a confused face. "Clothes?" she offered, uncertainly.

Melody sighed, shaking her head. "Look, I know you don't like Max that way and all but...Well, since you two are going together you might as well make it seem like a date, alright? For him?"

"...Date?" Karina flushed.

"Isn't that what it is? He asked you, didn't he?"

"He did, but originally it was going to be as friends," Rina went on. "Then he confessed and..." She groaned, exasperated. "Melody, what am I supposed to do? It's going to be really awkward." She slumped down on her bed with a humph.

"Maybe what we should do is get you out of those horrendous clothes of yours," Melody suggested, crossing her arms.

Rina pouted. "But these are comfy," she told her.

"And they're out of style," she retorted. "No, wait, they were never _in_ style in the first place! Why are you even wearing sweatpants and a jumper to Hogsmeade anyway? Do you have no femininity?"

"You're the one who said I didn't have any sex-appeal," Karina pointed out.

"That's because I thought you would do something about it if I brought it up!" Melody exclaimed.

The black haired Ravenclaw rushed over to Karina's trunk and started pulling random clothes out of it. "Nope," she said, as she threw a Holyhead Harpies T-shirt over her shoulder, where it landed on the floor behind her. "Nope, no, not this...not this either..." She sighed. "Merlin, Rina, how many of these Quidditch T-shirts do you have? And how come they're all autographed?" Melody narrowed her eyes. "Are you secretly a celebrity who comes into contact with a bunch of famous blokes or something?"

Karina blinked. "I thought you knew."

"Knew what?"

"I'm Karina Jenkins."

"Yeah, I know _that_," Melody said, rolling her eyes. "What about it?"

"My sister is Karissa Jenkins," she went on. "The chaser in Holyhead Harpies."

Melody stared at her. And stared. And stared.

"_WHAT?_"

Karina flinched and rubbed her temples. She could feel a headache coming on any minute, but she didn't say anything about it. Instead, she said, "Why are you so surprised? It wasn't a secret."

"You never told me!"

"There was never a reason to."

"What, so you'll never say anything unless there's a reason to?" Melody asked.

"Yeah, otherwise, what's the point?" replied Karina with a shrug.

"But you always say whatever you want when you're with Black."

Karina scowled. "That's because half of the time I'd like to give him a piece of my mind or I want to blow him up. I think he should know why I want to blow him up before I do."

Melody just sighed. "Well, whatever." She continued rummaging through Karina's trunk when her eyes caught onto something.

Was that...?

"Karina...," Melody began slowly. "What's this?"

Karina looked over at what Melody was holding and then proceeded to go through about five different colours. First, she paled, then slightly blushed, then flushed, and then went completely scarlet.

"It's...uh, well," Karina said uncomfortably, wringing her hands. "It's kind of...Black's shirt?"

Silently, Melody nodded. "Right, right," she said, as if it made perfect sense. Which, by the way, it didn't. "And _why the hell do you have Sirius' shirt?_"

Karina sighed. "Remember when I said he came over to my house in the summer?"

Melody blinked. "No way. Did you two-"

"We didn't do anything!" Rina interrupted immediately, not wanting to hear what Melody was thinking. "Nothing!"

"Nothing?" Melody didn't look convinced. It was _Sirius Black_ they were talking about, after all. "Are you sure? You two didn't get all touchy-feely in the summer heat? You didn't even so much as cuddle or anything?"

Karina opened her mouth to shout no, but then remembered that they had hid in her bed when her mom had come upstairs the night he climbed in through her window. They couldn't possibly count as cuddling, right?

Suddenly, Melody said, "I dare you to wear it."

Karina's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

A mischievous grin was plastered on Melody's face. "I. Dare. You. You're going to be wearing a sweater anyway, right?"

"But-!"

"Oh, what's this? Are you too scared to?" Melody jeered, as she dangled the shirt in front of Karina's face. "I'll give you three galleons."

"No way!"

"I'll buy you a brand new set of oil paints," Melody offered. "I know how much you've been dying to make an oil painting."

Rina's eyes brightened immediately. "Really?"

"Really, really."

"Gimme the shirt."

* * *

And thus began the extremely awkward kind-of-but-not-really date of Karina and Max. Melody had already gone off with her boyfriend, and her cousin and Rina were left walking side-by-side down the cobbled road of Hogsmeade.

Nervously, Karina wrapped her arms around herself. If, somehow, her sweater became undone, everyone would see that she was wearing Sirius' shirt. True, she didn't really care if people outright bullied her about it, but if rumours started floating around the castle and Sirius got involved too...

No, no, no. Why was she getting worried about him? She should be worrying about herself! Not Sirius! What did he have to do with anything?

It was weird. Before, every time someone had made a rude remark about her behind her back, Rina would never go up to them. She thought it'd be worse to actually get involved herself, so she never did. That, or she didn't even realize that she was getting bullied because she was too dense sometimes. But when bullies would come right up to her, she would usually just act nonchalant about it, but secretly be upset when she was alone.

But with Sirius...when they argued, she would flare up like never before. Sometimes when he talked to her, she'd get so embarrassed that she'd hit him and run away. What was with that? What happened to her casual ignorance, the part of her that would make her stop over-thinking things too much?

"Hey, Karina," Max spoke suddenly. Karina looked up at him and realized that she had completely stopped walking, having been immersed in her thoughts. "What is it?"

She blinked slowly. "...Nothing," she said. To further prove her point, she smiled up at him. "I'm fine!" Karina strode forward, and Max followed her.

However, it wasn't nothing, was it? Sirius had changed her so much. It was her last year at Hogwarts, and she was just planning to have a simple, quiet student-life until graduation. But ever since he had shown up, she'd been having so many different experiences that she wouldn't even have believed would happen to her.

If Sirius hadn't shown up, she probably wouldn't have been talking so much. She'd probably just be the quiet, unseen girl for the rest of her days.

If Sirius hadn't shown up, Karina wouldn't have become friends with Melody and Max. Her first real friends in seven years.

If Sirius hadn't shown up, she wouldn't be stressing out so much about simple things like whether or not he was feeling alright or whether or not he actually liked her.

_Liked her._

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Max asked her, still concerned. "You weren't looking too good at breakfast, and you look pretty pale now. Maybe we should sit down or something."

_Do I like him?_

No, that didn't make any sense! She just stopped liking Remus over the summer, due to the fact that they never actually had a proper conversation. How could someone possibly go from someone like Remus Lupin to Sirius Black? Besides, every time she talked to Sirius, they'd either be arguing, or she'd be beating him up.

_But not yesterday. Yesterday we got along quite well._

That was just one time though! Once! She couldn't have possibly started to bloody fancy the idiot because of that, could she?

_But it would make sense_, she thought.

No, wait, how would that make sense? That makes no sense! None whatsoever!

Although it did. Why else would she feel so embarrassed around him, but not around anyone else? Why else would she have suddenly become so familiarized with the sound of his voice and what he smelled like? Why else would she be fretting over this matter so much, unless...

_Well, shit._

"Karina?" Max asked, waving a hand in front of her voice. "You're zoning out. It kind of looks like you're going to faint, actually. Maybe we-"

"LOOK, IT'S RINA~!" a voice sang out from behind her.

Karina felt every single cell in her body freeze the moment she heard his voice. No, this can't be happening...The moment she started to realize that she might actually fancy him, he shows up?

"I really hate to interrupt (well, actually I'd love to) but," Sirius Black himself began. He was looking normal again; his hair, skin and teeth their original colours. "You're 'date' or whatever is going on here just looks _extremely_ painful and awkward, so-" Then he paused when he saw Karina's face. "Are you okay?"

She couldn't handle this right now. At this rate, she was going to be so embarrassed that she would end up giving him another black-eye, and what good would that do? No, right now she just had to be alone to think things through. Yes, that's right.

Karina was about to run away, when she suddenly felt all the energy she had in her drain. She swayed on the spot, and Sirius quickly grabbed her shoulders to keep her upright. Her eyelids felt unnaturally heavy, as they threatened to close.

"Oi, Rina," he called out, crouching down to meet her height. "Eyes open, love. Are you alright?"

Her head was pounding, and, evidently, so was her heart. Why did Sirius have to come now, of all times?

"Hey, I just called you 'love', you know? Where's my slap in the face?" Sirius asked, genuinely sounding concerned.

"I..." Rina began. Suddenly, she slumped forwards and Sirius caught her in his arms.

"Rina, what...Holy Godric, you're burning up!" Sirius exclaimed, touching her forehead with his palm. "You have _this_ high of a fever and you're going outside? Are you an idiot?"

Drowsily, Karina nodded. "Yeah, I'm...an idiot."

_How could I have let myself fancy Sirius Black?_

**A/N: TA-DAA! So...That just happened!**

**I hope you guys know how much I truly appreciate your reviews! Every time I read one, I grin from ear to ear. Also, whenever I don't feel like writing, I just reread the reviews and motivation you've guys have been giving me and WHAM! I'm suddenly in the mood to write another chapter. So I hope all of my readers out there know how big of a part you guys play in my writing of this story. Thank you :D **

**Update is on Friday, as always!**

_**Preview of Chapter Nineteen:**_

_She felt her heart fumble over a beat and accidentally blurted out, "Don't touch me!" _

_x-x-x_

_"But I don't know the answer!" he complained. "Give me a hint or something. Or better yet, give me a kiss. I bet that'll motivate me."_

_x-x-x_

_"You snogged my cousin."_

_"Sorry...I did what?"_


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen:**

Karina felt something warm touch her forehead, and she let out a groan of annoyance. Her head was banging, as if a little creature had crawled inside and had begun hammering the inside of her skull. Groggily, she opened her eyes to see what was going on.

Immediately afterwards, she regretted it. Bright white light flashed into her vision, making her eyesight blurry. But when it finally focused, she came face-to-face with the very person she wanted to avoid.

Sirius Black.

"Oh, you're awake," he said, pulling his hand back from her forehead.

She blinked, as if unable to comprehend what was happening. Slowly sitting up, she took a look around the room. At the sight of Sirius, she immediately looked down at what she was wearing, making sure he didn't notice that she was wearing his shirt, or worse—that he hadn't stripped her down and did perverted things to her before she woke up. Thankfully, she was fully-clothed, still wearing the sweater that she had on previously.

"I'm in-"

"The Hospital Wing," Madam Pomfrey said, as she rushed to Karina's bedside with quick steps, her shoes clacking against the tiled floor. "And you, Miss Jenkins, have a terrible fever. I would hate to see what would've happened to you if Mr. Black here hadn't carried you all the way back to the castle," she fretted, as she filled a glass at Karina's bedside table with water.

Karina looked over at Sirius with surprised eyes. "You did what?"

"I carried you," he answered.

"But that's a long walk," Karina reasoned. "And...well, I'm not exactly _lightweight_."

"Don't worry, I dropped you on the ground and dragged you by your feet for a while," he said, with a goofy grin. "So there's no need to worry about me."

She glared at him.

"I was kidding."

She sighed, and then pushed the blankets off of herself, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Can I leave, Madam Pomfrey? I don't like it in here." _Was that really it? Do I not like it in here, or do I just want to get away from Sirius?_

"Hey, hey, hey," Sirius said, grabbing her arm. "Didn't you hear what she said? You have a _terrible fever._" He made a very poor imitation of Madam Pomfrey's stern voice, earning a sudden snort from Karina and a smack on the head by the nurse herself. "Only joking, Poppy."

"That's Madam Pomfrey to you, Mr. Black."

He just rolled his eyes. Then he looked back at Karina again, and said, "Just lay down, for Merlin's sake."

Rina was about to retort, when she suddenly become very conscious of the hand that was tugging on her forearm.

_I fancy Sirius Black._

She felt her heart fumble over a beat and accidentally blurted out, "Don't touch me!"

Shocked, Sirius let go of her. "You don't have to be so grumpy," he told her. He pouted, giving her his best puppy-dog eyes. "You hurt my feelings. How about a kiss to-"

She held up a hand in front of his face, stopping him mid-sentence. "Madam Pomfrey? Please?"

The nurse huffed, crossing her arms. "Well, I _am_ pretty busy right now," she confessed, as she looked back at the row of students behind her. Karina raised her eyebrows questioningly at them, and she explained, saying, "The second years this year are bloody insane."

Sirius took in the second years' injuries, noting the multiple, colourful spots that covered their bodies. "Oh! I remember doing that in my first year. You tried to make a colour bomb, am I right? What you need to do to prevent it from accidentally bursting into flames is to add-"

"Mr. Black, please refrain from giving them more ideas," Madam Pomfrey interrupted.

He smiled sheepishly. Karina noticed that once the nurse turned away, he mouthed to a young boy, "Tell you later". The boy beamed, and then leaned over to his friend at his bedside, whispering something into his ear.

The second boy got up from his seat next to his friend and quickly strode over to Madam Pomfrey's cupboard.

"Oi, what are you doing?" Madam Pomfrey immediately snapped.

The blonde-haired boy went as taut as a wire, and then turned around. "Just grabbing a drink, ma'am." He held up a water jug to further prove his point. The nurse scowled, and then turned back to Karina with a sigh.

"Well, I suppose you might have a better time resting in your own bed," she admitted. She took out her wand and wordlessly summoned a bottle of reddish liquid that smoothly floated over to her. She handed it to Karina. "If your fever takes a turn for the worse, just drink half a cup of this, and you should be fine."

Rina nodded gratefully. "Thank you."

She got up and walked out of the Hospital Wing, Sirius at her heels.

"Are you sure you aren't feeling dizzy?" he asked her, sounding worried. "I mean, you collapsed back at Hogsmeade."

She flushed, remembering how she had fallen into his arms. How embarrassing was that?

"I'm fine!" she assured him. She stopped, and turned to face him. "I can make it to the Ravenclaw Tower on my own, you know."

"But-"

"No buts," she demanded. "Besides, you don't even know where the Ravenclaw tower _is_."

"Sure I do," Sirius responded cheerfully.

Karina narrowed her eyes. "One of your midnight escapades with some poor woman, is it?"

"What? Of course n—ah, well," Sirius admitted, grinning as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Rina shook her head. "I don't even want to know." She continued walking, slowly making her way up a flight of stairs.

"I'm coming with you!"

"No, you're not."

"But you have a fever."

"And Pomfrey gave me a potion _for_ said fever. I'm fine."

"Are not," he argued, as he followed her up a flight of stairs.

"Am too."

"Are not!"

With a huff, Karina turned around at the top of the staircase, hands on her hips. Sirius stopped, staying a few steps below her. "I need to..." _Think things through? Get away from him? Do some intense meditation underneath a waterfall?_ Karina rubbed the temples of her head with her fingers.

"Do you have a headache?" Sirius asked.

"I need to be alone," she finally got out, ignoring his question.

"What if you collapse in the common room or something?" Sirius asked.

His constant worrying over her was starting to get on Rina's nerves. She had just come to the conclusion that she fancied him, and here he was, annoying her already. What was with this final year at Hogwarts? It was not at all like how she'd imagined it before.

"Sirius, since when did you become so...concerned?" she questioned him, eyes narrowing as she tried to search his face. But then she found herself starting to become startling aware of how bloody handsome he really was, and ended up trying to nonchalantly inspect a nearby painting. "It's not like you to be this worried. I mean, I'd believe it if it were Remus, but-"

"But nothing," Sirius interrupted her, cutting her sentence off short. "Come on," he added, as he climbed the last couple of steps, grabbing her arm and leading her into the direction of the Ravenclaw Tower.

This time, Karina didn't say anything. She quietly walked along with him, mumbling something along the lines of, "Stupid, meddlesome brat" and nearly squeaking in embarrassing shock when his hand went from her arm to hold her own hand.

Without meaning to, she ripped away from Sirius' grip, hurriedly pulling her sleeves over her hands again.

He gave her a questioning look. She just shook her head, walking a few paces in front of him. Then she paused and took a deep breath.

"Well? Are you going to take me to the Ravenclaw Tower or not?"

Sirius grinned.

* * *

"Okay, you can leave now," Rina stated bluntly, as they stood right in front of door that lead into the Ravenclaw Tower.

He shot her a confused look. "What? I'm not allowed in?"

"You're a Gryffindor," she replied simply. "This place is for Ravenclaws. Hence the name 'Ravenclaw Tower'."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I've been in there before, Rina. I mean, you guys don't even have a password. Anyone can get in, if they're smart enough."

_So he wasn't lying about being in here before,_ Karina thought to herself. At least he was being honest. But Rina couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable about that fact. So he's snuck into the Ravenclaw Tower to hook-up with one of her fellow housemates? Where else had he snuck into just to get a little action?

Karina found herself slowly sinking into a pit of insecurity, when Sirius began to snap his fingers in front of her eyes.

"Hello?" he called out. She met his eyes, and then looked away again, not being able to look at him straight on anymore without feeling awkward. "See? You're clearly not in the right state of mind. I should stay with you just in case you...I don't know, _die_."

Karina let out a short laugh. "In case I die? Pessimistic, you are." She crossed her arms in front of her chest with a sigh, and said, "Fine, you can come in with me."

Sirius' eyes brightened. "Really? Then-"

"If you can answer the riddle to get in," she added.

He stared at her, and then eyed the eagle knocker with an unsure expression. "Well, you know, I'm a _Gryffindor, _not a Ravenclaw after all-"

"I thought you were smart?" Karina told him innocently, referring to their conversation last time they were alone together.

"I-" He huffed. "Alright, fine." The Gryffindor turned towards the eagle knocker on the door, and asked, "So, what's the riddle, you old bird? And actually, I've been wondering this for a while now, but why is the Ravenclaw animal an eagle? Why not an actual raven?"

Karina stared. "Does that really matter right now?"

"Yes."

She rolled her eyes, and turned to the eagle on the door. "The riddle?"

The two teens waited in silence, until finally a riddle was spoken.

"_It is more powerful than Merlin, yet more evil than Morgan le Fay_

_The poor have it._

_The rich need it._

_If you eat it, you will die._"

Sirius blinked, and then turned to Karina. "What the hell does that mean?"

She smirked. "Well, run along then, if you don't know the-" Her sentence got cut off as she let out a couple of hoarse coughs, one hand clutching at her throat.

Sirius looked at her with concern. "Are you okay?"

She waved him away with a dismissive hand. "Fine, fine. When I get in, I'll drink some of this," she told him, holding up the bottle of reddish liquid that the nurse had given her. "So hurry up and answer the riddle, or you can go back to Hogsmeade and hang out with some bimbo."

"Uh, uh, uh," Sirius mumbled, trying to think. "It's, um...Do _you_ know the answer?"

Karina rolled her eyes again, feeling, for once, superior when she was with Sirius. "Of course I know the answer. This one's really easy. One of the first years could probably answer this."

He stared at her. "Seriously?"

"Just answer the riddle; I'm getting a headache," Karina told him, feeling a throbbing pain in the back of her head.

After a very long minute of waiting, Rina groaned. "Sirius, just guess or something."

"But I don't know the answer!" he complained. "Give me a hint or something. Or better yet, give me a kiss. I bet that'll motivate me."

She scoffed at him, yet awkwardly avoided eye contact at the mention of a kiss. "I'll give you a hint. It's what's in your brain right now."

"Sexiness?"

Rina tried really hard not to laugh. Then she turned to the eagle, and said, "Nothing."

The door opened and Sirius blinked.

"Nothing?"

"Yeah," Rina agreed with a nod. "The poor have it, the rich need it, eat it and you'll die...That's probably the easiest riddle I've ever heard from the eagle. I bet it only said that one because it sensed that you were here or something."

"_Nothing?_" Sirius repeated, incredulously. "You said that the answer was what was in my brain!"

"And, obviously, nothing was in your brain," Karina deadpanned, making Sirius scowl.

Then, without warning, Sirius grabbed Rina's arm and sped into the Ravenclaw common room, before the door could close again.

"It's so roomy in here," he said, as he gazed around at the circular room, taking in the midnight blue carpet and the high, domed ceiling with painted stars. He excitedly ran over to the large windows, and gaped at the view. "Why does your tower have the best scenery?" he whined. "You can watch Quidditch games from here! And look-" He pointed to a far point, near the Forbidden Forest. "There's Hagrid's hut! And—Hey, where are you going?" he asked, as he realized that Karina was walking across the room, towards where the girl's dormitories were.

"And you were the one who was so worried about me being sick," she mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"Wait up!" he told her, as he rushed to her side.

She stopped him, holding a hand out in front of his face. "This is far enough."

"But-"

"I'm fine now," she assured him. She opened the bottle that Madam Pomfrey had given her and took a quick swig from it, swallowing the sweet liquid. "Look, I drank some already. Everything should be fine."

Ten minutes later, Sirius reluctantly left, after having been kicked in the stomach by Rina.

* * *

The morning after, Karina was feeling unusually more cheerful than ever, and decided that it must've been whatever was in that medicine that she had gotten the day before.

"Alright," Melody said, as they started getting dressed in the girl's dormitory. The three other Ravenclaw girls had already left, and it was just the two of them in the room. "Spill it."

"Spill what?" Karina asked, a bright smile on her face. She hummed a bubbly tune, as she buttoned up her blouse.

"You're acting so happy that it's creepy," Melody explained bluntly.

Karina shrugged. "I think it's the medicine I got from Pomfrey. Side-effects, I guess?" She let her eyes wander over to the bottle that she left on her bedside table. She had taken only a tiny swig, and the results were instantaneous and effective.

Melody smirked, and said, "Maybe I should take some. I'd love to get unreasonably happy once and in a while."

"I'm not using it to get high, Melody."

"Pfft...I knew that."

Together, they walked down the steps of the girls' dormitories and into the wide, spacious common room. Catching sight of the third person in their little group of friends, Karina called out, "Hey, Max!"

At the sight of her, Melody's cousin proceeded to stare, get insanely red in the face, trip over his own feet and then knock over a bookshelf. He yelped as the books came crashing down, and one of the eleven year old Ravenclaws tripped over a particularly humongous textbook, face planting into the floor.

"Oh Merlin, I am so sorry," he fretted, as the girl glared at him, and then stomped on his foot.

"Ouch! I said I was sorry!" he called after her, as he hopped on one leg. He caught Karina staring at him and then turned red again, all the way to the tips of his ears. He ended up losing his balance and knocked over a _second_ bookshelf, causing many of the Ravenclaws that were in the common room to groan in annoyance or start laughing.

Melody shot Karina a look. "Alright, spill it," she said, for the second time that morning. "What's _that_ about?"

Karina stared blankly, completely confused. "I don't know. I didn't do anything." She walked over to Max, who was frantically panicking over the fallen over shelves. "Max?"

"Ah—uh, uh, er, umumum...Hi!" he finally burst out, awkwardly standing up straight to properly face her, and then slumping his shoulders down, an uncomfortable look on his face. "Just—just so you know, I'm really, _really_ sorry. I didn't mean to, it's just that...um...Well, in my defense, you started it so...uuuhhhh...yeah, I-I'm going to go-"

"Stop right there, Maxie," Melody said, grabbing his arm in a vice-like grip. "What happened?"

"Happened? Nothing! Nothing happened, nothing at all!" The nervous and extremely forced laugh made it obvious that he was lying.

"What do you mean, 'I started it'? What did I start?" Karina asked him.

He refused to answer; only a string of gibberish escaped from his mouth.

Rina sighed. "You're acting really weird, Max."

He tried to look at her, and then failed, as he started to blush furiously again. "I'm not the only one," he blurted out. Then he immediately clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Come here for a second," Melody ordered her cousin, dragging him into a corner of the common room, leaving Karina standing blankly by herself. What did she start? Why was he being so...awkward? First Sirius starts acting weird, now him?

Oh, Sirius. Merlin, how was she supposed to face him now? She...well, she thought she fancied him, at least. It was the only thing that would make sense. But she thought back to last year, and how she fancied Remus and...

Karina let out moan of frustration. Since when did someone like her get _boy problems? _Granted, Remus didn't actually have anything to do with her since they never actually talked, but other than that...

She took a deep breath and reminded herself that that wasn't what was wrong at the moment. She looked over to her two friends, watching them talk and observing their actions. Melody looked serious, and Max seemed extremely jittery and panicky. He mumbled something, and Melody's eyes widened. Karina could read the words, "No bloody way" coming from the girl's mouth, to which Max reluctantly nodded, feet shifting awkwardly as he stared down at the carpet.

What was going on?

Melody made Max stay where he was, as she strode over back to Karina.

"So...what happened?" Rina asked, curiously.

"Karina, you..." Melody bit her lip, unsure of what to say. Rina found that concerning, since Melody never really thought her words through and was fine with just talking bluntly. But here she was, carefully picking out her words.

Starting to dread the answer, Karina slowly said, "What did I do...?"

"You snogged my cousin."

Her jaw went slack, mouth popping open. Karina's eyes went as wide as dinner plates, and she quickly looked over at Max, who went beet red in the face again.

"Sorry...I did _what?_"

**A/N: Ta-da! Chapter 19!**

**Urghh, I'm not quite satisfied with this chapter, but I don't really know what to do to make it better! Sorry!**

**As always, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING AND REVIEWING!**

**Next update is on Friday, as usual!**

_Preview of Chapter Twenty:_

_"Well, you __do__ fancy her," Melody pointed out. "If the guy I like suddenly started snogging me without reason, I wouldn't question it."_

_x-x-x_

_He then woke up with a shriek, yelling something like, "THE FOREST IS ALIIIIVEEE!" _

_x-x-x_

_"Promise me you will give me your wand without questioning it, and also stay a safe three metres away from me," Remus stated bluntly. _


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: I'M SO SORRY! This update is two days late, and I'm really really sorry for that. It's just that school started and then I went to a concert Friday night, and then...agh! I just completely forgot. I'm so sorry.**

**But...here's the next chapter! **

* * *

**Chapter Twenty:**

"You snogged my cousin."

"I heard you the first time!" Karina exclaimed.

Melody shot her a look. "Then why'd you make me repeat it?"

"Because…because…" She flailed her arm around in Max's general direction. "I…I couldn't have—that's _impossible!_"

"Then please explain to me why my cousin is acting like an embarrassed ten year old girl who just got kissed by some Quidditch star," Melody said, hands on her hips.

"I don't know!" Karina responded helplessly, starting to feel frantic. "Are you sure it happened? I don't even remember _seeing_ Max last night."

"Well, I guess it did happen, seeing as Max is practically melting in a sea of burning hot embarrassment," her friend replied, gesturing over to where her cousin was now sitting on one of the couches, staring off into space.

"It doesn't look like he's melting," Rina pointed out. "More like…someone scooped out his brain and he's left blankly looking off into nothing."

"And who scooped out his brain? You did," Melody stated. "With your lips, apparently."

"I didn't snog him!" she yelled defensively. She rushed over to where Max was sitting, and said, "Max, come on, that didn't happen, did it? That's impossible, right? This is just a joke, yeah?"

Max stealthily avoided her eyes, and then mumbled, "I'm pretty sure it wasn't a dream."

"How can you be so sure?"

If it were possible, Max turned fifty shades redder. He cleared his throat. "I'm…I'm pretty sure." It was obvious that he didn't want to state _why_ he was sure, as he curled up into a ball and made some kind of strangled sound of exasperation.

"But _how_ can you be so sure?" Rina pressed on, starting to lose her patience. She had only kissed two people in her entire life, and now, all of a sudden, she _made out_ with one of her best friends? And to top it all off, she couldn't even remember it? Was she drunk or something?

Max really looked like he didn't want to respond, as he craned his head further away from her, trying to evade her gaze as much as possible.

That's when she saw it.

"Oh my Merlin," Karina stated, her eyes widening. "Max, no way, did I-"

"You even gave him a _hickey!_" Melody cried out, saying the dreaded words that no one wanted to hear. But, to Rina's great dismay, Melody didn't seem troubled by it. In fact, she looked positively delighted. "Oh, this is great! It's like a dramatic romance novel!"

Max quickly lifted up the collar of his shirt, hiding the mark.

"Max, why didn't you stop me?" Karina asked, sounding absolutely horrified.

Suddenly, he turned to her, his face still flushed scarlet. It was the first time they had properly looked at each other ever since the incident, and he immediately exclaimed, "You don't think I _tried_ to?"

"Well, you _do_ kind of fancy her," Melody pointed out. "If the guy I like suddenly started snogging me without reason, I wouldn't question it."

He ignored that statement, and instead squirmed around awkwardly in his seat. "Well, it was a little hard to stop when you were practically throwing yourself at me," he admitted.

"Throwing—I—you…" Karina whirled around, head in her hands. She had the extreme urge to yell out multiple obscenities, but held back, seeing as there were still first years milling about. So instead, she fled the common room, aiming for a place where she could sort out her thoughts. Alone.

Then she paused, her hand on the doorknob. No…That wasn't a good idea. If she was going to be alone, then she knew that she was just going to forever avoid the situation and probably never talk to Max again. And, quite possibly, accidentally explode something or set Peeves on fire. No, she needed to be somewhere with a lot of people so she couldn't let her frustrations out so violently.

"I'm—I'm going to go eat breakfast," she said quietly, turning towards the exit. "Just…can you guys not bring this up again until I figure out how and why it…happened?"

Max and Melody nodded silently, and Karina opened the door and rushed into the corridor.

* * *

She sat down in the very corner of the Ravenclaw table. Max and Melody sat next to each other on the other side of the table across from her. Max was still red in the face and silent, Melody starting to look bored.

"Max," Melody spoke, gaining the attention of her cousin. "Leave."

"What?" he asked in surprise, looking at her with a confused expression. "Leave? Why?"

Karina couldn't see the look that Melody gave him from the angle they were at, but she assumed that it was pretty terrifying, seeing as Max got up and sat a few seats down, out of ear-shot of the two other girls.

"Better?" she asked, not even bothering to look at Karina as she rolled a couple breakfast sausages onto her plate.

"I…guess," Rina mumbled, her head down. "I just don't understand how I couldn't done that. And to _Max_ of all people."

"Would you rather it have been someone else?" Melody asked, with raised eyebrows.

Karina hesitated before answering. She hated to admit it, but she was pretty thankful that it was Max and not someone like Snape or James or…Sirius.

Sirius.

"Oh, Rowena," she muttered, head in her hands. She finally realized that she might have taken a bit of a fancy towards the bloke and now she went and…and _snogged_ one of her best friends? What was wrong with her? Why would she ever do something like that? She wasn't sure if not remembering ever doing so was a good thing or a bad thing, but whatever it was...if Sirius found out….it could quite possibly ruin their chances of—

Of what? Did Karina actually want to _date_ that idiot? She remembered that just last week he had accidentally set his own pants on fire during Charms class, having fallen asleep while Professor Flitwick was busy praising Lily for her excellent essay or something like that. He then woke up with a shriek, yelling something like, "THE FOREST IS ALIIIIVEEE!" After that, it had literally taken him two entire minutes to realize that he was on fire, and Remus had to douse the flames for him, muttering something like, "We don't want what happened before Hogsmeade to happen again, now do we?"

"Do you think it was the medicine?" Melody asked, bringing Rina back and away from her thoughts. A concerned look was on her face. "You _were_ really happy this morning. Maybe another side-effect was giving you the extreme need to make out with someone."

Karina's face paled at the though. "That—oh my God, what if that's actually it?" She shook her head. "Then…well, I'm not sick anymore, right? So I just have to never ever ever ever _ever_ take it again."

"And, somehow, you and Max will have to forget about the day that you gave him a hickey," Melody added in. "It's a good thing it's almost winter. He can hide the hickey with a scarf or something."

"Shut up!" she exclaimed, kicking her friend's shin from under the table. She flailed her arm out, saying, "What if someone hears-"

"Oowww!" a voice cried out from behind her.

Rina's eyes widened and she looked back, noticing that the arm she was flailing around had hit someone. Two second year boys stood side-by-side, one of them with a hand clutching at his face.

"That hurt," he mumbled, rubbing his nose. A mop of brown hair sat atop his head, as he shot her a harsh look with his light blue eyes.

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry," Rina fretted, turning around in her seat so that she could examine his injury.

"Rina?" Melody said. "I'm going to talk to Max for a bit. He looks like a loser over there by himself, and he keeps looking over."

Karina nodded at her, and then turned back to the boy. "Oh, it's not—it's not _that_ bad," she assured him.

The boy glared at her. "It's _bleeding_."

"Yes, well, it's not broken, now is it?" Karina retorted. _Goodness, I'm horrible with kids._

The boy's friend, a blond kid with hazel eyes and a splash of freckles across his nose, gave Rina a look. "Can't you fix it for him?"

"There's nothing much to fix, really," Karina reasoned. "The bleeding will stop in no time, trust me. Here…" She handed him a napkin, and helped him press it up against his nose. Then she tilted her head to the side slightly, saying, "Haven't I seen you before?"

"No?" the brown-haired boy responded. "Maybe this guy, though," he added in, elbowing his friend in the stomach.

Apparently his friend took that as some sort of cue, because he walked away from the two of them and out of Rina's sight.

"No, I remember both of you, actually," she went on. "Weren't you two in the Hospital Wing? The…what was it, the colour bomb or something?"

The boy wasn't paying attention. Instead, he was looking off at something behind her. Rina snapped her fingers at him, saying, "Hey, kid. I was talking to you."

He glared at her. "You're rude. I wonder why Sirius likes you."

Karina gaped. "What makes you think that Sirius likes me?" she questioned. "No, wait, did you just call me rude?"

"You smacked me in the face and made me bleed," he pointed out. "I've been hit in the face with a Quaffle before and it didn't hurt this much. Do you have fists of steel or something?"

She flushed. "Fine, fine, I'll take the pain away." Karina took out her wand and waved it wordlessly. She smiled. That should've taken care of the throbbing, at least.

"Okay, thanks, bye!" the brown-haired boy said. Then he dashed away so quickly that she didn't even have time to respond.

Right on his heels, his friend raced after him.

"Weird kids," Rina muttered to herself, taking a swig of her chocolate milk. Then she made a face. "Ugh…why does this taste so sweet?"

* * *

Remus Lupin, being the lightest sleeper out of the Marauders, woke up to the sound of an owl tapping on the window.

He rubbed his eyes and sat up, staring at it. Whose owl was that? James', maybe? But it didn't look like his. It seemed vaguely familiar though…

The werewolf stood up and shuffled his feet over to the window. He opened it, a cold breeze letting itself into the dorm. Neither Peter nor Sirius noticed though, as they continued to sleep.

The bird hooted once and then stuck its leg out. A rolled up piece of parchment was attached to it, and Remus quickly untied it. The bird flew off after that.

He sat down at one of the desks, turning on the lamp as he unrolled her note.

_Dear Remus Lupin_

_URGENT. _

_Astronomy Tower, immediately._

_Karina Jenkins_

He blinked. Wasn't Karina Jenkins the girl that Sirius fancied? Why would she be sending a note to him, and at 12:30 at night, too? Remus wondered what could possibly be so urgent at that time of night.

But then a thought struck him.

Urgent? Immediately? Karina Jenkins, the girl _Sirius Black_ fancied?

His face paled. What if Sirius had done something? What if he got so fed-up with the fact that his womanizing ways wasn't working with her so he took drastic measures?

No, no, no. This was his friend. He wouldn't do something horrible to a girl.

So in the case that what had happened was willing on Karina's account, what else could be urgent enough to call for him? Something important that Sirius couldn't know about, but Remus could?

Oh no. What if…what if she…What if Sirius…

Remus took a deep breath. No, Sirius wouldn't have…_couldn't_ have gotten a girl _pregnant_, for Christ's sake.

The thought was sinking into Remus' brain, and without another thought, he dashed out of the dormitory and headed towards the Astronomy Tower.

* * *

Sirius woke up to the sound of Remus banging the door of the dormitory open, clumsily tripping over his own feet, and then knocking over a lamp on his way inside.

"What the hell, Moony?" Sirius mumbled groggily, as he sat up in his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?"

Remus slowly got up to his feet and brushed himself off. Clearing his throat, he responded with, "About 12:50am?" he offered, trying to sound calm. But the panicked look on his face betrayed him. Thank Merlin it was dark.

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "It's almost one in the morning and you weren't sleeping? Where were you?"

Remus opened his mouth to respond, but only air came out.

Sirius was getting suspicious. "Were you with a girl?"

The werewolf clamped his hands together, and put on an extremely professional sounding voice. "Right, Sirius, so…The thing is, you have to promise me that…" He trailed off uncertainly.

"Promise you that what?" Sirius asked.

"Promise me that you will give me your wand without questioning it, and also stay a safe three metres away from me," Remus stated bluntly. He held out his hand expectantly.

"O-kaay?" the handsome teenager responded. He reached over to his bedside table, opening up the drawer and taking out his wand. He walked over and placed it into Remus' hand.

"Now back away," he ordered.

Sirius took a few steps back.

"More."

Another few steps.

"You know, why don't you just lean against the windowsill?" Remus offered. "And I'll be over here," he added, leaning against the doorframe.

Sirius stared at him. Now they were both on complete opposite sides of the room, as far away as they could possibly get from each other.

"Alright, Moony, what's the deal here?" he asked, starting to sound concerned. Then he noticed that the lamp on the desk was on, and Sirius walked over to it.

"Wait, no, Sirius-"

It was too late. He had already picked up the note, his eyes skimming down the words.

His gaze flicked up to Remus. "You met up with Rina?"

"Right, yes, that was I wanted to talk to you about," Remus told him quickly, as he wrung his hands together.

"What did you guys talk about?" Oh no, he was starting to sound jealous again…

"Sirius, three metres," the werewolf reminded him. "Three metres away, remember?"

He sighed, backing up again. "What happened? And please don't tell me you fancy her, because-"

"No!" Remus blurted out immediately, holding his hands up in a defensive position. "It's just that-"

"Does she fancy you?" His tone didn't sound very happy at all.

"No! No, Sirius, listen." He took a deep breath, choosing his words carefully. "I think she's been…poisoned?"

His eyes widened, and he lunged forwards, aiming for the door, but Remus thrust his hands out, stopping him. They struggled a bit, as Remus used all his strength to force his friend back.

"No! No, sorry, wrong choice of words," he stammered, trying to push Sirius away. "She's fine. Healthy and fine. But…"

"_But?_"

"But there's definitely something wrong with her," Remus deadpanned.

Sirius paled. "What do you mean?"

"She…Sirius, she…" Innocent little Remus started to blush. "Three metres, please."

Sirius scowled, rolling his eyes in annoyance as he backed away again.

"Sirius, she tried to snog me."

Silence filled the room.

Then, Remus started shouting, "THREE METRES, THREE METRES, THREE METRES! SIRIUS, THREE METRES AWAY! YOU PROMISED! IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"

Peter finally woke up then, yawning.

"THREE METRES! AGH, PADS, NO, THAT'S MY WAND!"

"What's happening?" Peter asked groggily as he blinked. His eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, and he caught sight of Remus and Sirius wrestling in a corner.

The squat boy with the watery blue eyes stood up and walked over to them. Sirius had Remus in some kind of lock, where Remus lay on the floor, flailing around helplessly, wailing something about three metres.

"Why do I always miss everything?" Peter wondered out loud.

**A/N: And so Rina strikes again!**

**I was going to show what actually happened between Rina and Remus at the Astronomy Tower, but…(cowers in a corner) I'm way too shy to. Just writing a simple kiss in this story makes me feel like a little girl watching a romance movie. XD**

**Update is on Friday, as usual!**

Preview of Chapter Twenty-One:

"_I WILL __**KILL**__ THAT LITTLE PIECE OF HIPPOGRIFF CRAP!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing the door open and dashing down the stairs._

_x-x-x_

_Remus groaned in annoyance. "Prongs, if someone we don't know is prowling the school at one in the morning, we first ask who they are and what they're doing here. __**Not**__ why their accent sounds funny."_

_x-x-x_

"_Maybe you should refrain from calling your professor freaky after getting caught wandering the halls at one in the morning."_


	21. Chapter 21

**OKAY GUYS, HERE'S THE DEAL:**

**So school has been real a pain in the ass lately (but honestly, when is it not? XD). Therefore, I must push the update day from Friday to Saturday, because that would be a whole lot easier for me. :p It's only a day, so you guys shouldn't mind, right? Well, at least, I hope that's the case.**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One:**

"Where do you think you're going?" Remus asked, when Sirius finally stopped wrestling him. His hand was on the doorknob, but he paused at his friend's voice.

"To talk to Karina," Sirius stated bluntly.

"It's one in the morning," Remus reasoned with him. He was panting, tired from struggling so much with Sirius. He was honestly surprised at how easily jealous Sirius had gotten over a girl that he doesn't even want to admit he fancies. "Talk to her at breakfast."

"Moony, I don't know if you realize this, but this is a _very_ serious matter," he told him, turning so that Remus could see just how serious of a look was on his face. "She tried to _snog_ you? Are you even sure it was her?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Remus answered. "But I'm also sure that she didn't do it of her own will."

"What, so _you_ tried to snog her?" His voice sounded threatening.

"THREE METRES, SIRIUS."

Black sighed. "It's just—she would never do that, you know? And what if she does it again? What if someone's controlling her, or—or-" The look that Remus was making made him trail off. "What is it?" he asked suspiciously.

Remus was chewing his bottom lip nervously. "Well…" He didn't want to lie. The ever-so-observant Remus noticed the more-than-usual awkwardness between that Ravenclaw Max Thompson and Karina Jenkins the day before. He noticed the troubled-looking Rina, the constantly blushing Max and the amused Melody Cartier.

And he also noticed the hickey.

"Well?" Sirius asked impatiently.

Not wanting to withhold any information, Remus told Sirius what was on his mind. About what he had…observed. And, without a doubt, he deeply regretted it not even a second afterwards.

"I WILL _KILL_ THAT LITTLE PIECE OF HIPPOGRIFF CRAP!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing the door open and dashing down the stairs.

"Pads! Wait!" Remus called after him, racing after him. "And, also, Max is crazy tall, so he's not little."

Sirius ignored that smart-aleck statement, and growled, "If she isn't doing this of her own free-will, why didn't that bastard stop her?"

"Sirius, you can't go out now. It's after hours!" Remus said, grabbing his shoulder. Why hadn't he realized that he would take action right away? He should've waited until morning to tell him! Stupid, Remus! Stupid!

Sirius was paying no attention to him, as he wrenched open the doorway and went out into the corridor. With an exasperated sigh, Remus followed suit.

"Guys! Guys wait up!" squeaked Peter, as he scrambled after them on a pair of clumsy feet clad in fuzzy slippers. "Where are we going?"

"Peter…just stay there," Remus told him with a sigh. Dealing with Sirius was going to take a lot of focus, and he couldn't have Peter there bumbling around the corridor and making noise.

"O—okay…"

The portrait hole shut behind him, and Remus yell-whispered, "Sirius!"

"Lumos," said a voice to his left. Sirius' face was illuminated by the bluish-white light of the wand-lighting charm. He started stalking down the hallway.

"Sirius!" Remus said again. "We're going to get caught."

"You're a prefect, aren't you?" Sirius said. "Just say you were patrolling."

Remus sighed. "And what are you planning to do once we see Max, huh? Do you even have a plan?"

"I do," he responded immediately.

"And what is it?"

"To kill him."

"_Sirius_." The werewolf sounded tired and worried.

"I am Sirius," the other teenager replied. He allowed himself to grin. "I'm Sirius Black, and I'm also serious about killing the bastard who bloody snogged-"

Cutting him off short, Remus simply stated, "Sirius."

"I just told you, I _am_-"

"No, no!" He was back to yell-whispering again, as he dragged Sirius behind a corner. Then he crouched down slightly and cautiously peaked his head out, looking out into the corridor they were previously in. "Turn off the light," he demanded, and Sirius obeyed, muttering a quick "Nox."

"What?" he asked.

"There's someone there."

"Who is it? A professor?" Sirius asked, leaning over Remus' shoulder for a look. At the sight of the person, his eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Is that a student? I don't recognize him."

"Exactly," Remus said. "I don't recognize him either. And I know nearly everyone from fourth year and up at this school, plus the faces of the younger students. I've never seen that guy in my life."

They both let their gazes strain against the dim light and focused on the teenage boy who was holding up a wand that was also lit, a map in his hands. His hair looked almost silver when illuminated by the wand-light. He was wearing muggle clothes—a plain, navy blue T-shirt and jeans. A black backpack was slung over his shoulder, which made Remus even more confused than before. The students at Hogwarts didn't use backpacks. They had specific schoolbags that had been put in the shopping list of requirements. Why would he have a backpack?

"Let me take a closer look," Sirius said suddenly, trying to lean further over Remus' shoulder.

Remus backed up. "No, we should just go. Or go up to him. There's no point in sneaking around like this."

"But I want to see!" he complained.

"You _can_ see," Remus pointed out. "You can see just fine from over my shoulder."

"But I want a better view."

He sighed. "There _is_ no better view. If we move, we'll be seen. Unless we leave. Right now, preferably."

Reluctantly, Sirius agreed, saying that he'd find another route to the Ravenclaw Tower. But right after they turned around, footsteps sounded from down the corridor they were on.

Remus and Sirius shared a slightly panicked look, barely even visible because of the darkness.

"I don't have the invisibility cloak!" Sirius hissed.

"Come on, let's just go the other-"

"Whoa, what are you guys doing here? To the kitchens?"

The two boys let out a breath of relief. "_James_."

A lantern was in the left hand of the bespectacled Gryffindor, his wand in his right. "I was just doing some rounds," he told them. "You might want to take the long way to the kitchens, by the way. I saw Filch over there doing something weird with his cat."

Sirius raised his eyebrows suggestively, and Remus was about to ask what the weird thing with Mrs. Norris was, until a voice that belonged to neither of the three of them spoke up.

"Is someone there?"

The boys froze.

"Who's that?" James asked, beginning to walk down the hall.

"We don't know," Remus said, following behind him. "Never seen him before."

Finally, they were face-to-face with the unknown teenager. He was about Remus' height, with an odd mix of blonde and dark brown hair. His features were soft, not angular like Sirius' were. Curious, dark brown eyes stared at the three of them, looking them up and down.

"Are you students here?" he asked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," James said, holding up a hand. "Hold up just a second." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why do you have a funny sounding accent?"

Remus groaned in annoyance. "Prongs, if someone we don't know is prowling the school at one in the morning, we first ask who they are and what they're doing here. _Not_ why their accent sounds funny."

This time, Sirius groaned in annoyance. "Guys! I just need to get to the Ravenclaw Tower. So if you'll excuse me-"

"Wait!"

Sirius turned, facing the blonde and brown haired guy. "What is it now, weird-accent-boy?"

"You're going to the Ravenclaw Tower?" he asked. A hopeful look spread across his face. "Can I come?"

Sirius raised his eyebrows. The guy sounded like an excited puppy. "Why?" he questioned.

"I'm looking for a friend."

"Who?"

"Her name's Kree," he responded. "Do you know her?"

"Knowing you," James said, facing Sirius, "there's a good chance he knows nothing about her."

"Unless she's significantly attractive," Remus added in.

"Oh, she's really pretty," he told them, eagerly nodding. "She has wavy blonde hair, blue eyes, uh…" He scratched the back of his head. "Well, I don't really know what she looks like now. I haven't seen her in a while."

Sirius sized him up. Then, suddenly, he smirked. "Well, from the experience of a man loved by many women—" he began.

"Oh, here we go," Remus stated, rolling his eyes.

"I, for one, have observed that girls love surprise visits," he said. Sirius added a silent, "or maybe it's just because I'm the super-awesome Sirius Black", and then he continued: "And who am I to deny a man who just wants to see a girl?"

"Woo!" the blonde-brown haired guy cheered, his eyes sparkling.

The four of them began to walk down the hall, on their way to the Ravenclaw Tower.

* * *

"Why do I have the feeling that you only helped him because he seems like a puppy?" James whispered to Sirius. The two of them were trailing slightly behind the weird-accent guy and Remus, who was leading the way.

Sirius grinned. "You think he's like a puppy too?"

"Sirius, you're not _actually_ a dog, you know?" James reminded him. "It's just an animagus. You can't go around picking up stray puppies."

"But look how pitiful he looks."

Padfoot and Prongs looked over at the blonde and brown haired boy, who didn't seem to be able to keep his hands off anything, constantly sweeping his hand across the armor of knights on display, paintings and trophy cases.

"Touching things is like his way of sniffing through leaves," Sirius informed James. "And look."

They both paused to take in how the boy completely stopped everything he was doing whenever Remus started to talk to him, facing him directly and standing straight, his attention fully on him.

"It's like he's always ready to please his master."

"I think I just interpreted that sentence in an entirely different way than I was supposed to," James stated after a moment.

There was silence for a moment, before the two of them burst out laughing.

"Guys, shush!" Remus scolded them over his shoulder. "And what's so funny, anyway?"

"Are you ready to be pleased, master?" James asked in an overly-dramatic voice.

Remus gave him a worried look. "Does Lily know you're gay, or…?"

Sirius started laughing again. "Oh, Merlin. Prongs, I just thought of something. You know how I said touching things is like his way of sniffing things?"

"Yeah?"

"Dogs sniff butts."

James tried his hardest not to laugh, but holding it in ended up with him giving out a harsh snort, and then doubling over in laughter.

"He touches Moony's butt!" he exclaimed.

"Excuse me?" Remus asked, whirling around. "What in the name of Godric are you guys talking about?"

Sirius and James were too busy laughing to respond.

"What? What is it?" Remus questioned, starting to sound worried.

"Oh, Professor McGonagall!" called out the blonde and browned haired boy.

Remus stood stock still and Sirius and James silenced their laughter in under two seconds. They seemed to have been under the impression of if they didn't move even the slightest centimetre, their professor wouldn't see them.

Obviously, that wasn't the case.

"Merlin, Alfie, I've been looking for you for ages!" McGonagall said, hands on her hips, her face looking stern. "I thought I told you to wait in my office." Then she looked over his shoulder, and said, "Black, Potter, Lupin. What are you three doing here after hours?"

The three of them slowly turned around like an old, stiff door hinge.

"Rounds," Remus and James said immediately.

Sirius stood there with his mouth hanging open lamely. All that came out was, "Well, dammit."

"Quick, think of a pick-up line," James murmured to him out of the corner of his mouth.

"Ew, no!" Sirius exclaimed, giving him a look of disgust. "Besides, I tried that last time and she gave me detention."

"What did you say to her?"

"I said, 'I think I should start training to be a swimmer, because your eyes are as deep and blue as an ocean and I always get lost in them'," he responded.

"You do realize her eyes are green, right?" Remus put in.

"It could've been an ocean of moss, okay, Moony?" Sirius snapped, suddenly defensive. It was obvious that he didn't like people criticizing his pickup lines.

"But you said, 'your eyes are as deep and blue as an ocean'. You even stated an eye colour."

"I had to think quickly, alright?" Sirius replied. "And McGonagall does _not_ look pretty at four in the morning."

Their professor cleared her throat loudly. "Did you already forget that I was here?"

"Oh, right." Sirius gave a sheepish look to his teacher. "But you _did_ look pretty frea-"

Remus elbowed Sirius in the ribs before he could finish his sentence. "Maybe you should refrain from calling your professor freaky after getting caught wandering the halls at one in the morning."

"Oh, yeah, that would make sense," Sirius said, nodding.

Professor McGonagall scowled. She opened her mouth to say something along the lines of, "detention, for the twelfth time in only two months" but was cut off by the door at the end of the hall creaking open behind her.

Karina Jenkins stood in the doorway of the Ravenclaw Tower, dressed in yoga pants and a tank top. She blinked a few times, and then said, "Professor?"

Sirius exclaimed, "Karina!"

McGonagall began with, "Miss Jenkins-"

…and Alfie, the weird-accent, blonde-and-brown haired boy yelled out, "My fiancée!"

**A/N: So….yay? Do I get a yay? Please give me a yay.**

**Haha, anyways….Thanks for reading, as always! The next update is now on SATURDAY, so please watch out for that, and do not expect an update on Friday. And when I say Saturday, that's the Saturday next week, not tomorrow.**

Preview for Chapter Twenty-Two:

"_Padfoot wanted to beat someone up," Peter explained excitedly. "And I wanted to watch."_

x-x-x

_Sirius gaped, and James quickly brought his hands up to defend his face. "There's a muggle expression that goes with this situation and it's…um…Don't kill the envelope?"_

"_I'm pretty sure it's 'Don't kill the messenger', Prongs," Remus informed him._

_x-x-x_

_He looked behind him, checking if Sirius had chased after them yet. Confirming that he hasn't, he turned to Karina with a smirk on his face. "I'm making things move along faster, is all."_


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two:**

"Miss Jenkins."

"Did he say fiancée?"

"Wait, _Sirius_?"

"_Fiancée?_"

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Did he just call you his _fiancée_?"

"It's past one in the morning, why-"

"Whoa Moony, why are you blushing?"

"Kree!"

"I'm not blushing, James!"

"Moony, I swear to-"

"THREE METRES, SIRIUS."

"_QUIET!_" Professor McGonagall shouted, her voice drowning out the sounds of everyone else's frantic comments. "Everyone, shut your mouths! Mr. Black, you have no reason to be here. Please head back to the Gryffindor Tower immediately."

"Professor, Remus doesn't actually have any rounds today," Sirius blurted out.

"_Padfoot!_" Remus exclaimed in disbelief.

He shot him a look. "Hey, if I can't stay and figure out why the hell this weird-accent-puppy-boy called Rina his fiancée, then you can't either. At least I have a reason for being here!"

"And what's your reason, Sirius?" Remus asked.

Sirius held his tongue, and Remus knew immediately what his reasoning was.

_Because I fancy Karina, and I want to know why she's bloody engaged. _And, of course, the heavily implied: _but like hell will I admit that when she's right there._

Remus wanted to smack him. Of all times to be annoyingly stubborn, it had to be _now?_

"Is that so, Mr. Lupin?" their Transfiguration professor asked, her eyebrows raised.

He let out a disheartened sigh. "Yes, Professor. I'll go back to my dorm now." He paused for a second, before adding, "_With_ Sirius."

McGonagall seemed to be satisfied with Remus' answer, and nodded. "Then, good night to the both of you. Mr. Potter, please continue your rounds."

Remus and James sheepishly left, heading their own separate ways. Sirius stayed as long as he dared without getting scolded again by McGonagall. He and Rina made eye contact, and she hurriedly looked away.

"Fiancée, huh?" he asked her.

She crossed her arms. "It was arranged," she stated, still avoiding his eyes. After a moment, she added, "Kind of."

What the hell was 'kind of' supposed to mean?

Alfie had already run all the way down the hall, and was standing at Karina's side, looking as happy and joyful as ever. Like a puppy who had just been given everything he could have ever wanted in his entire life.

And his everything was _Karina_.

Sirius felt the strong need to punch this Alfie guy, but he held back, mostly because Professor McGonagall was still there. No, wait—he held back _only_ because McGonagall was there. Because if she wasn't, then he would've pounded that little weird-accent-puppy into the ground.

"I thought you said her name was Kree," Sirius said, almost seething. Why on earth would this guy lie to him? "And that she had blonde hair."

Alfie blinked. "She did have blonde hair. It changed," he said, looking at Karina with eyes of adoration. "And Kree is her nickname. Karina? Kah-ree-na? Kah-ree, Kree—you get it."

Sirius let his eyes flit back over to Karina for a second, before he spoke. She still wouldn't look at him.

"Yeah. I get it now."

* * *

"Sirius, sit down."

It was around the sixteenth time that Remus had said that, but he still wouldn't listen. Sirius was standing up on the bench at the Gryffindor table, trying to look over the heads of all the other students filing in, trying to find Karina.

And Alfie.

James yawned as he walked up to them. "Why are you guys here so early?" he asked, stretching his arms above his head.

"Padfoot wanted to beat someone up," Peter explained excitedly. "And I wanted to watch."

James gave Sirius a look. "Who're you beating up? Do you need any help? Should we set up a prank?"

Sirius grinned. "See, Moony? _That's_ what a friend is supposed to say," he told the werewolf, who was sitting down next to him. "Not,"—he made an over-dramatic imitation of a very serious sounding Remus—"'you can't beat someone up just because he said he's Karina's fiancée.'"

"Wait, you're going to beat up Alfie?" James asked.

"Oh, so you're on a first-name basis with the little stray puppy, now aren't you?" Sirius said, malice lacing his words.

"What? No," James said in a rush, shaking his head. "I'm Head Boy, so McGonagall made me talk to him this morning. He's from America, and he came to visit his mum who divorced his dad who lives in…uh, New York or something? And apparently Karina used to live in New York-"

"Not important!" Sirius interrupted him. "What matters is why the bleeding hell he called her his _fiancée_."

"He said it was an arranged marriage," James responded, looking a bit frightened, seeing as Sirius had the perfect position to fly-tackle him in case he said anything bad.

"I know that already," Sirius said, waving a hand dismissively. "Anything else?"

"They took baths together when they were three?" James offered uncertainly.

Sirius gaped, and James quickly brought his hands up to defend his face. "There's a muggle expression that goes with this situation and it's…um…Don't kill the envelope?"

"I'm pretty sure it's 'Don't kill the messenger', Prongs," Remus informed him.

James shrugged. "Close enough." He turned back to Sirius, and said, "Well, there's a lot he was telling me, while I was trying to talk to him about Hogwarts. It's like he was bragging about all the stuff he knew about Karina and-" His eyes caught onto something behind Sirius, and he immediately stopped in the middle of his sentence to say, "Moony, arms! Wormy, legs!"

All of a sudden, James, Remus and Peter sprang into action.

Peter managed to somehow ninja-dived underneath the Gryffindor table and push Sirius' legs that were standing on the bench, resulting in him falling forwards with a shout. Remus leaped up and grabbed his arms, saving him from face planting onto the floor. Sirius was now in a crouched position, his knees bent, arms twisted behind him, gripped by Remus.

Peter, with slight difficulty (make that a lot), shimmied his way out from under the Gryffindor table and then wrapped his arms around Sirius' legs.

"Hey—guys, what the hell?" Sirius exclaimed, trying to shake them off. "If I'm like this, then I can't look for-"

"Right, Alfie! Rina! This way now, you two," Sirius heard James say. His head whipped towards his voice, and saw his best friend—his _best friend!_—usher the two of them back out the Great Hall.

"PRONGS!" he shouted after him. "WHAT'S GOING ON?"

* * *

Alfie and Karina had just entered the Great Hall, when James suddenly sprinted up to them, panting.

He immediately straightened himself up and said, "Right, Alfie! Rina! This way now, you two," he said quickly, as he spun the two of them around and began pushing them right back out of the Great Hall.

"PRONGS! WHAT'S GOING ON?" a voice shouted from behind them.

Karina looked back and caught Sirius' face staring at them, Peter and Remus hanging off his limbs as he struggled to get free.

"No, no, don't mind that," James said happily, as he pushed her farther down the corridor, away from Sirius' line of vision.

Alfie was cheerfully clueless as he allowed himself to be ushered down the hall. Karina, on the other hand, didn't like to be told what to do without knowing the reason why.

"James Potter," she snapped, backing away from his hand and facing him, hands on her hips. "Explanation. Now."

He looked behind him, checking if Sirius had chased after them yet. Confirming that he hadn't, he turned to Karina with a smirk on his face. "I'm making things move along faster, is all."

She cocked her head to the side, an obvious sign that she was confused. "Move things along? What things?"

"Things that definitely do not include this guy over here," James stated, throwing an arm around Alfie's shoulder. "Who, by the way, told me everything."

"Huh?" Alfie looked hopelessly confused, but seemed content with the idea of not knowing what they were talking about at all.

Karina was about to ask what James meant by 'everything', but was cut off by Melody calling out, "Rina!" from behind her.

The girl in question turned around, and watched as her best friend stalked up to her, a stern look on your face. Karina couldn't even let out a single word of greeting, because Melody immediately said, "Explanations. Now."

James grinned. "You two are pretty similar, huh?"

"Shut up for a second, Pothead," Melody snapped at him.

"Did you just call me—"

"Let me get this straight," the black-haired Ravenclaw continued, not even acknowledging James' existence anymore. "First, you snog Max and can't remember what happened. Then, you try to snog Remus-"

"Wait, I did _what_?" Karina exclaimed, eyes flying wide.

"You didn't even know that?" Melody asked, incredulously. She shook her head. "That, plus the fact that you suddenly have a bloody-freakin' _fiancé_, and Sirius is just kind of there, yet is really important in this entire situation…just…Karina, seriously, you need to sort out this weird love-life you have here. What exactly is going on?"

Karina looked helpless. "I—I don't-"

"Don't even finish that sentence, because I am _not_ accepting this 'I don't know' speech that you have prepared," Melody interjected. "I need real answers, because I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."

Karina let out a breath of relief. Melody was going to help her. She was afraid for a bit, because she sounded so angry, but Karina understood her position. She was her friend, and she wanted to help her, and she could understand why she would be frustrated. It irritated Karina too, when someone she wanted to help just wouldn't accept the help she was trying to give.

And here Melody was, offering her help. In her own way, that is.

"It must've been the medicine," Karina said finally. "Like you said before. And you said I snogged…Remus?"

"Yes," Melody said. "Max told me."

"Oh, God." Karina wanted to hit herself. Now there was another person she wanted to avoid. "How did Max find out?"

"Remus told him."

"Why the hell would he do that?" Karina exclaimed.

Melody shrugged. "Well, they're both…victims of being force-snogged by you?"

Karina flushed and shook her head. "Just…alright then. Well, yesterday, I drank some chocolate milk that tasted a bit funky."

"Funky?" she echoed.

"It was sweet. Like the medicine."

Suddenly, Melody turned to James. She walked right up to him and stood straight as she faced him. "Alright, Potter. Did your insane best mate Black dose Karina with some snogging potion in an attempt to get laid, or did he not?"

"He didn't!" Remus called out from behind James. "He did _not!_ I know that for a fact."

Karina was getting more and more confused by the second. Everything was moving by too quickly, all the information being spouted out all of a sudden—was this what James meant by making things move along faster?

"Moony!" James exclaimed. "Where's Sirius?"

"Lily was getting annoyed by all the ruckus he was causing and stupefied him."

James grinned happily. "Isn't my girlfriend _awesome?_"

Remus waved a dismissive hand. "Anyway, I know Sirius didn't slip her the medicine or…whatever it is."

"How?" Melody asked.

"How?" Remus snorted in laughter. "He nearly killed me trying to get out of the dorm so he could beat up Max when he found out about him, and I had to keep him away at a three-metre radius so that he wouldn't get close enough to bloody castrate me."

Melody laughed. "Oh, I wish I had been there."

Remus looked at her warily. "You're a sadist, aren't you?"

"And you're a masochist," Melody added in. "We fit together quite nicely, don't you think?" she noted, with a wink.

"What-" Remus began, but Melody continued to talk about Karina's love-affairs, going about a million words a second.

"So it wasn't Sirius who gave her the medicine," Melody deducted. "Which leaves-"

"The kids!" Karina exclaimed suddenly, whirling over to face her friend. "The kids! The second years! The ones who were in the Hospital Wing the first day I had the fever! They came and talked to me at breakfast yesterday—one of them must've slipped me the potion, or whatever it was."

"But _why_?" Melody asked. "Did they expect to get some action from a seventeen year old?"

James made a face of disgust. "That's a bit disturbing."

"I'll tell you why!"

Alfie, James, Remus, Melody and Karina all looked down at the twelve year old boy who was standing in the doorway of the Great Hall. He walked up to them, a confident look on his face.

"Where are all these people coming from?" Karina wondered out loud.

"It's all for Sirius!" the second year exclaimed, ignoring Karina's comment. "He taught me and my friends a bunch of pranks, so we thought that we'd-"

"Repay him by doing him a favour," Remus finished, starting to piece everything together. "And that favour was-"

"—getting the girl he liked to snog him," Melody finished. She snapped her fingers, finally understanding.

"At the Hospital Wing," Karina spoke up. "You switched the medicine with whatever potion you made. Then, when I snogged Max instead of Sirius, you put some of it in my drink at breakfast."

The boy nodded, his arms crossed. He looked pleased with himself. "Indeed I did."

"Nice one," James whispered to the kid, giving him a high-five.

"Don't encourage him!" Karina snapped at Potter, shooting him a look. She sighed, rubbing her temples. All this new information was giving her a headache. And, plus, Alfie was still there. What was she going to do about Alfie?

James was about to retort, when a Peter yelled so loud from the Great Hall that the five of them could hear what he was saying so clearly, as it echoed around the walls of the castle.

"INCOMING! PADFOOT ON THE LOOSE! I REPEAT, PADFOOT ON THE LOOSE!"

"Oh, shit," James muttered, just as Max walked around the corner and joined the group, saying an innocent, "Hello," to everyone there.

A highly disheveled Sirius emerged from the doorway of the Great Hall, trying to wrestle Peter off of his back.

He caught sight of both Max and Alfie, and then grinned maliciously.

"Peter, you wanted to watch me beat someone up, right?"

Peter's grip loosened from around his neck, as Sirius cracked his knuckles.

"You better keep your eyes open, then. Because now there's two people here that I want hit."

Max and Alfie, the two boys who knew the least about what was going on, paled.

"Shit times two," James corrected himself.

**A/N: Thank you so so so so sooooooo much for reading! **

**And the reviews from the last chapter had me grinning, haha. :D You all seem to hate cliffhangers, don't you? I don't know what it is, but I seem to have a knack for leaving almost every chapter with one, so…Sorry for that XD**

Preview of Chapter Twenty-Three:

"_I understand that you're an easily-jealous teenager," Remus continued. "But I'm pretty sure nearly beating two people to death will get you suspended, at the least."_

_x-x-x_

"_What's wrong with that?"_

"_EVERYTHING."_

_x-x-x_

"_He's Sirius Black. He'll figure out a way," Remus assured him. "It may be a stupid way, but it'll be a way nonetheless."_


End file.
